Part of Your World
by Alex Blender
Summary: Haley struggles with accepting herself as a lesbian and fitting into the world of high school. Brooke and Lucas get together, which causes Peyton to go into a depression. Nathan gets caught up in his quest to be the best basketball player, ever.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Fitting In…Kind of**

Haley James crossed the quad of Tree Hill High School deep in thought, heading to her car, glad the school day was over. She tried to spend the least amount of time possible at school lately. Avoiding Nathan Scott was a main part of it, but not the sole reason. She was sick of everyone, really, even her friends. All the backstabbing, selfishness, and just the amount of drama in general that petty high school students consume their lives with has no appeal to Haley. She's tired of fake people, and tired of being fake herself. She doesn't like the person these people have turned her into. She doesn't talk to her best friend, Lucas Scott, like she used to, she was hanging out with people who just last year she couldn't stand, like Brooke Davis, Peyton Sawyer, and Rachel Gatina. They actually weren't too bad, she thought, but she misses Lucas and what her life used to be like.

Her parents had split up last year when she was a sophomore. It didn't bother her too much that they weren't together anymore, especially because she can see that her mom is a lot happier now, but it was part of why she decided to start hanging out with a different crowd; she needed a change. She was now popular, a cheerleader, and Nathan Scott was showing interest in her, but this made her uncomfortable as she is not interested in guys. She had known this for a while but had not told anyone yet, not even Luke. But now she had the opportunity to accept Nathan's advances and start dating the school's best basketball player, to pretend to be straight so she could stay popular, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, so she withdrew. From her popular friends, her parents, Luke, and her classes, she drifted away.

"Haley! Hey, where are you going?" Peyton yelled as she jogged up next to her as Haley was unlocking her car.

"Home, got to get going on that English paper," she said, trying to sound convincing.  
"We've got two whole weeks before that's due, come with me to the record store. Please? We barely hang out anymore."

"I don't know, I just kind of feel like going home," Haley said, but as she saw Peyton's face drop she reconsidered. "Alright, just for a little while though."

"Cool, you're driving, let's go," Peyton said as she headed to the passenger side of the car.

After changing the radio to the classic rock station, Peyton noticed that Haley was in her own little world. She could tell that she was deep in though about something.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Peyton inquired.

"Huh? Oh, nothing really, just life," Haley said.

"Oh, that's all? Yeah, life's no big deal, it's just all we have," Peyton pointed out.

"Deep, did Bevan tell you that one?" Haley joked.

"Funny," Peyton said, "come on, what were you thinking about? It seems serious."

"Alright. I was just thinking about how people lie, and hide who they are to be liked. It's so juvenile, yet I find myself doing it sometimes."

"It's not juvenile, it's just human nature, everyone wants to be liked."

"I guess so," said Haley. "I just wish certain things weren't such a big deal. People need to grow up and realize that everyone should be treated nicely, especially when it's something they have no control over," she paused, "like how much money they have, or don't have."

"Is that what you're worried about? That people won't like you because you don't have as much money as they do?" Peyton asked.

Haley had decided she needed to come up with something to avoid having to tell Peyton what this was really about, as usual. She's really good at telling lies, and hiding things, which she half wishes she wasn't so she would be forced to tell people the truth, especially Lucas. She really wants to come out to Luke, but she feels that she's known him too long, that he'll be mad that they've been friends forever and she didn't tell him something big like that. And the longer she puts it off the harder it is to tell him. She kind of half hopes that he'll bring up the topic one day, just ask her. Even though the idea of him asking her if she's gay freaks her out, she is much more freaked out about bringing it up herself.

"Kind of, I know it's childish, but I can't help it. Brooke is constantly buying new clothes and expensive things, and I can't keep up," Haley said.

Peyton replied with a sympathetic tone, "me neither. I only buy something maybe once every fifth shopping trip, Brooke doesn't care. She shops because she likes it, don't worry about trying to keep up," she finished as they pulled into the parking lot of the record store. "Come on, let's go browse, I don't have enough money on me to buy anything," Peyton said with a smile.

"Ha, ok, I guess you proved your point," Haley said as she climbed out of the car and headed to the store. She was feeling a little better, seeing that Peyton was trying to help her with her problems, which showed that she cared, and wasn't as shallow as Haley once thought.

After wandering around the record store for half an hour, looking at the album art and joking around with each other, the girls decided to go get something to eat. They agreed on Karen's Café, both in the mood for a burger and fries.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" Luke asked as he saw Haley and Peyton walk into his mom's café.

"We were just hanging out and thought some good food and crappy service sounded good," Haley answered with a smirk.

"Very funny," Luke said as he was wiping down a table, "the food's not that good." They all laughed as Haley and Peyton took their seats.

Throughout the meal Lucas kept coming over and joining in on the conversation, while staring at Peyton pretty much the whole time. She kept stealing glances at him as well when he wasn't at the table. Haley of course noticed the little game they were playing; she thought it was cute and that they'd make a good couple.

After dropping Peyton back at school where her car was, Haley drove home. She was glad that she let Peyton talk her into hanging out with her. She sometimes kept to herself more than is recommended, but she liked being alone, working stuff out in her head. She had gotten to know herself pretty well throughout her self imposed solitary sessions, and she now wanted to share who she really was with everyone. What was stopping her though, was that she wasn't ready to put herself out there like that and possibly lose her friends or family, so she kept quiet, for now.

Brooke walked through the halls of Tree Hill High School, saying hi to people, smiling at everyone, she enjoyed popularity. As she approached her locker she saw Peyton waiting beside it. "Hey best friend!" she greeted Peyton.

"Hey, how was your shopping date with Victoria yesterday?"

"It was fine. We're cordial to each other now. She tries to buy my love, which I'm ok with," Brooke answered. "What did you do yesterday?"

"Haley and I hung out. We went to the record store then got food at Karen's. It was fun," Peyton said.

"Cool. Tutor Girl surprised me, she's actually pretty cool. To be honest I only gave her a chance because Lucas is hot, and her best friend."

"Yeah," Peyton said while rolling her eyes, "I remember. She's a really good person, but I feel like she's off in her own world a lot. It seems like she's got something important on her mind, but she never wants to talk about it."

"What do you think it is?" Brooke asked.

"No idea, but I guess she'll tell us when she feels like it," Peyton said.

"Yeah," Brooke paused, "or we can try to get it out of her," she suggested.

"No, she's a very private person," Peyton pointed out, "I doubt that would work. So don't pester her Brooke."

"Me? I would never." Peyton gave her a look, "alright, fine, I won't," Brooke mumbled.

Nathan walked into the tutoring room, excited to spend some time with Haley, even if there was homework involved. He was starting to like her a lot and was thinking about asking her out. He felt that they had been getting along well, and now that he and Lucas aren't sworn enemies anymore he figures he has a shot. "Hey," Haley said with a smile as she walked into the room, "what do we have today?"

"Just some algebra, shouldn't take too long," Nathan replied.

"Good, let's get started then, I have to go grocery shopping and make dinner for the family tonight," she said, "my mom, sisters and I take turns."

"Alright, so if tonight's your night to cook, are you free tomorrow night? I was thinking we could go to dinner, maybe Italian? Or Chinese? What do you think?" he said as he looked hopefully at her.

"Umm, like a date?" she asked.

"Yeah, like a date," Nathan smirked.

"Uh, well… no, I'm not free," she said uncomfortably, "sorry."

"Oh, ok, then maybe Friday night?"

"No, I can't then either, I have a family thing. I think we should get started on this though," she suggested while motioning to the math book.

"Oh… alright," Nathan replied, trying not to show his disappointment.

After the tutoring session Haley went to the grocery store. While she was shopping she was thinking about how she was going to deal with Nathan. She knows he's not going to give up that easily. She really hates when guys hit on her or ask her out, it makes her really uncomfortable, but it's not really their fault. She doesn't want to be rude, but because she's not ready to tell them the real reason, (not that that stops all guys anyway,) she tries to let them down easily, which sometimes just makes them try harder. With Nathan it's going to be more difficult than usual though, because she's starting to become good friends with him, and she's his tutor, so she's going to be seeing him at least twice a week no matter what. For now she decided to just keep saying she's busy, but she knows that won't work for too long.

That night while Haley was doing homework after dinner she got a call from Brooke. She invited her to a party she was throwing Saturday night. Brooke said it was going to be awesome and that Nathan would be there. Haley said, "oh yeah? Sounds cool, but I'm not sure if I can make it."

"Oh come on Haley, I barely see you anymore, you're always busy or doing homework. I miss you. Please come?" Brooke pleaded.

Haley paused, then answered "ok, fine, I'll come, if I can bring Lucas with me."

"Of course, you can always bring whoever you want," Brooke said, glad that she was able to convince her. "And don't forget that Nathan will be there, I see what's going on between you two. Maybe he'll finally get the guts to ask you out."

"Oh, yeah, about that, he asked me to dinner today," Haley said.

"Finally!" Brooke exclaimed, "You guys are going to be such a cute couple!"

"No, Brooke," Haley interjected, "I said no, I'm not interested. I just want to be friends, he's not my type."

"What? Not your type?" Brooke said, "How is that possible? Nathan Scott is gorgeous!"

"I guess, but I'm just not into him that way, and I was kind of trying to avoid him because I know he's just going to keep asking me out, and I don't know how to make him stop without hurting his feelings," Haley said.

"Huh, ok, well don't worry then, Peyton and I will run interference at the party. We'll keep him busy so you won't have to be alone with him," she paused, "if that's what you really want." Brooke was a little stunned and still trying to understand how someone could not be into Nathan Scott.

"Thanks Brooke, that would be awesome," Haley said.

"Yeah, no problem. Well I gotta go, I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Ok, see you then."

Brooke approached Peyton at her car in the school parking lot the next morning, eager to tell her about her conversation with Haley the night before. "Hey best friend, so I've got some gossip for you. Nathan asked Haley out yesterday, and she turned him down, now she wants us to help her avoid him, especially at my party tomorrow night, don't you think that's weird?" Brooke said without taking a breath.

"Woah Brooke, easy, it's not even 8:00," Peyton said.

"But she's not interested in Nathan Scott, how is that possible? Everyone is in to him."

"Well, I guess that's not true then. Everyone has different taste in men or women, and there's no explaining why, and no changing it."

"I guess so," Brooke said, "I wonder what her type is then, I didn't ask last night because I was caught off guard. It's still hard to believe that not everyone thinks Nathan Scott is attractive," she stated as they walked to class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Party with the Pretty People**

WhenHaley and Lucas showed up at Brooke's house on Saturday night they were greeted by loud music and immediately handed beers. They stood talking for a few minutes before Brooke and Peyton spotted them.

"Hey friends, glad you could make it," Brooke said.

"Yeah, awesome party Brooke," Lucas said, "I'm going to go find the guys, I'll see you later."

"Alright, later."

"So Haley," Brooke started, "Nathan's been asking about you. I think he's going to ask you out again. He was grilling me earlier on good date ideas."

"He thinks if he comes up with an awesome date, something more than just dinner that you'll say yes," Peyton added.

"I don't want to go out with him, I just want to be friends," Haley stated. "If he took me to the moon I still won't be attracted to him. It just doesn't work that way."

"Yeah, boys are clueless, but don't worry, we'll try to get him to leave you alone," Peyton said. "We're trying to find someone else for him to focus his energy on."

"Thanks guys, I appreciate it."

"No problem," Brooke replied. "We were thinking Molly Finn. She's hot, on the soccer team, so they've got sports in common, and she's really cool."

"Yeah, Molly is really pretty," Haley said looking down, "do you know if she's interested in him?" she asked as she looked up at Brooke.

"Not sure yet, but we're trying to figure that out tonight," Peyton answered.

"Ok, I see her by the stairs," Haley said as she saw Nathan approaching, "I'll go talk to her, you guys keep Nathan occupied." She slipped away right before he got up to them.

Haley has had a crush on Molly for the past year or so. She's not sure if she's a lesbian, but she fits a couple of the signs. Haley has been too shy to ever say more than "hey, how's it going" to Molly, but she figures this is the perfect time, especially if she's going to try to prevent Brooke and Peyton from trying to set her up with Nathan.

"Hey, how's it going?" Haley asked Molly.

"Hey, pretty good, Haley, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Having a good time?"

"Yeah, it's a cool party," Molly said. They then proceeded to talk for a half hour about school, soccer, and their favorite bands. Haley was surprised how easy it was to talk to Molly, and they got along really well right off the bat. Haley then decided to see if Molly was in to Nathan, as she realized that even if she was straight, they would make good friends.

"So Brooke was telling me earlier that she heard that Nathan Scott wants to ask you out," Haley said.

"Oh really? I thought he was in to you," Molly said with surprise in her voice.

"No, we're just friends, he's not my type," Haley said while looking up at Molly to see her reaction to that.

"Oh, ok. Well he's not really my type either," Molly said.

"Really? Interesting," Haley said more to herself.

"Well, I'm going to get another drink, do you want anything?" Molly asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I could use another drink too, I'll go with you," she said.

* * *

Later in the evening Molly and Haley were sitting on the couch still talking. Nathan spotted them and came and sat next to Molly.

"Hey girls, how's your night been?" he asked.

"Pretty good, having a good time," Molly answered, as Haley looked around for Brooke and Peyton, who were nowhere in sight.

"Good, good. So Haley, I haven't seen you around much lately, I was hoping we could hang out sometime soon," Nathan said.

"Oh, well, yeah I've been busy, keeping up with school work, chores at home, and tutoring. You're not my only student you know," Haley replied.

"Oh, ok, yeah, I guess you've got a lot going on, and I'm practically always at basketball practice, but there's always a way to make time if you really want to," he pointed out.

"Hey Nathan, there you are," Brooke interrupted as she bounced over to the couch, "We need you in the kitchen, come on." She grabbed his arm and pulled, practically dragging him away.

"I'll see you later Haley," he said as he was being pulled away.

Once he was out of ear shot Molly turned to Haley "well it looks to me like he's a bit interested in you after all."

"Oh, yeah, I guess so," Haley said, "I tend to be pretty oblivious when it comes to guys liking me."

Molly nodded. "You probably get hit on a lot, don't you?" she asked. "I mean with how pretty you are I bet it happens all the time."

Haley laughed nervously, "uh, kind of, I guess, I try to ignore it most of the time, but sometimes they don't let me."

"I can see that," Molly said just as her friend Lauren approached.

"Hey Molly, Carissa and I are ready to take off, you coming?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you outside, I left my jacket in the kitchen."

"Ok," Lauren said as she wandered away.

"Well I gotta go," Molly said as she turned to Haley, "it was cool hanging out with you tonight though, see you at school sometime?"

"Yeah, I'll see you at school," Haley said.

* * *

On the drive home after the party Haley was mostly quiet. She was thinking about Molly and how she couldn't believe they had hung out all night, and all because Brooke and Peyton decided to set Molly up with Nathan. Lucas interrupted her thoughts with a question, "so where were you all night? I didn't find you again until it was time to go."

"I was in the living room pretty much the whole time, talking to Molly Finn, she's pretty cool," Haley said.

"Oh, nice. Yeah, she's cool, and pretty hot," Lucas said.

"Yeah, so who'd you hang out with?"

"Oh you know, the guys, Nathan, Jake, Mouth, Pete, and also Brooke and Peyton most of the time."

"Cool, well thanks for driving, I'll see you later, Luke," Haley said as he pulled up to the curb in front of her house.

"Later, night Hales."

"Good night!"

* * *

While getting ready for bed that night Haley was thinking that maybe her new life and friends weren't that bad. These people, although sometimes shallow, were actually pretty cool, and they seemed to care for her. Content, she fell asleep thinking about her new life, and her even newer friend, Molly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Getting to Know Her**

After school on Monday Haley found herself at the soccer field, she had 15 minutes to kill before her tutoring session with Brett began. Usually she would spend that time prepping, going over the student's past tests and assignments and checking their progress, but today she sat in the stands at the soccer stadium watching the girl's soccer team practice instead. After ten minutes the team stopped for a water break. Haley saw Molly spot her in the stands and head over her way.

"Hey Haley, what are you up to?" she asked while trying to catch her breath.

"Hey, just had some time to kill before my tutoring session, thought I'd stop by and see you in action. You're really good, fast," Haley answered.

"Thanks," Molly said with a smile, "When are you done with tutoring? Practice is out at 4:30, want to hang out after?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, I'm done at 4:45 though."

"That's perfect, gives me time to shower and change. Meet you outside the locker room?"

"Sounds good," Haley said with a smile.

* * *

After her session with Brett, which she could barely focus on, Haley headed over to the locker rooms and found Molly waiting for her, looking cute in her jeans, purple shirt, and wet long wavy brown hair. "How was practice?" Haley asked as she approached.

"It was good, we worked on some things we had trouble with in last week's game, and did lots of conditioning, which is tiring but good. It always helps to be in the best shape you can be in, especially in soccer," Molly said as they walked to the parking lot.

"Yeah, that's good. So what did you have in mind for today?" Haley asked, curious about what they were going to do.

"Well I thought we could go down to the beach, maybe walk around, kick a ball around, or throw a football? I've got one of those in my car too."

"Sounds good," Haley said, "I love football, well I love pretty much any sport."

"Cool, me too, let's go. The black jeep is mine," Molly said while pointing it out as they approached the car.

* * *

"Wow, you've got a great arm!" Molly yelled to Haley as she chased after Haley's last throw which went over her head.

"Thanks. I used to throw all the time with my dad during halftime of my sister's soccer games when we were growing up. She played soccer for a lot of years," Haley explained.

"Oh yeah, Taylor James, right?

"Yeah."

"We were on the school team together my freshman year, her senior year. She was really good, does she play in college?" Molly asked.

"No, she dropped out of college after the first year. She's living in Florida now, working at a bar I think."

"Oh, ok. So did you ever play soccer?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, for a couple years as a kid, but I liked water polo better, so I quit soccer to focus on that."

"There are water polo teams around here? I thought that was mostly a west coast sport."

"No, it's out here too. I was on a club team in Raleigh for 4 years, but I had to quit because after my parents divorced money became an issue and we couldn't afford the fees or all the traveling for games and tournaments anymore," Haley stated while they continued to play catch.

"Aw, that sucks, I'm sorry," Molly said.

"Yeah, thanks. It was a bummer, but not the end of the world. I've found other ways to keep myself occupied."

"That's good. Hey, my arm's getting tired, you want to go get some ice cream?"

"Yeah, let's do it," Haley said.

The girls continued to chat about their lives, families, and whatnot as they enjoyed their ice cream while they walked along the beach. They both seemed to be enjoying the other's company a lot, and Haley was surprised at how calm she was even though she could tell that Molly was flirting with her, or at least she thought she was… and hoped she was.

* * *

"Well I had a good time, it's cool hanging out with you," Molly said as she grabbed Haley's phone from her. "Call me sometime and we'll do it again," she said with a smile as she programmed her name and number into Haley's phone.

"Yeah, I had fun too, I'll call you," Haley said, smiling as well.

* * *

"Come in!" Haley said to the knock on her bedroom door.

"Hey Hales, what are you up to?" Lucas asked as he collapsed onto her bed.

"Well hello to you too. I'm just working on some calculus homework."

"Correction, you were working on calculus homework, now you're hanging out with me," Lucas said.

"Oh am I?" Haley questioned.

"Yep. So quick question," he said as he rolled onto his stomach to look at her, "has Peyton ever said anything about me to you? Like, do you know if she likes me?" he asked.

Haley gave a little scoff then said, "No, she hasn't said anything about you."

"Oh," his face fell.

"But she doesn't have to. Just seeing the two of you together it's easy to tell that you're both into each other," Haley stated. "I mean, remember when we stopped by your mom's café while you were working last week? You guys were so obvious, it was cute though."

"Yeah? So do you think she'd say yes if I asked her out?"

"Probably. Do it and find out," Haley said.

"Ok, I think I will," Lucas said with a smile on his face.

After a few minutes of silence Lucas said, "So I just wanted to let you know that if you want to date Nathan I'd be alright with it."

"Oh yeah?" Haley asked.

"Yeah. He told me that he's asked you out a few times and you keep saying you're busy or something. And I just wanted to say that if you're saying no because of me, you don't have to. We're over our childish rivalry. I actually like the guy now," Lucas said.

"Well thanks for saying that, but that isn't why I've been rejecting him," she said.

"No? Then what is it? I thought you liked him."

"I do, as a friend. It's… It's just that I'm interested in someone else right now," Haley explained.

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"I don't want to tell you yet, I want to see if it goes anywhere before I get excited," she said.

"Ok, fine. Keep your best friend in the dark. I don't mind," he said with a fake pout on his face as he turned away from her.

"Ok, I will."

"Fine," Luke said.

"Fine," she agreed.

* * *

Brooke and Peyton approached Haley the next day at school. They were talking about how annoying Nathan has gotten with his constant questioning of them about Haley, and why she keeps saying no to him.

"Haleyyyyyyyyy," Brooke whined as they got up to her. "You have to go out with Nathan, he's getting so annoying trying to figure out how to get you to say yes to him."

"Yeah, he won't leave us alone about it," Peyton added.

"Well have you guys told him that I'm just not interested?"

"Yeah, I tried mentioning that, but he wasn't phased, he just said that there's got to be a way," Brooke said.

"Damn Haley, what did you do to this guy?" Peyton asked, "He's borderline obsessed I'd say."

"I didn't do anything. I've just been nice to him, and we became friends. But I haven't done anything to lead him on. I'm not interested, he's just got to accept that," Haley said.

* * *

"Hello?" Molly said into her phone.

"Hey, it's Haley."

"Oh, hey Haley, what's up?"

"I was just calling to say hi, and thought maybe we could hang out tomorrow after soccer and tutoring again, if you want," Haley said.

"Yeah, that'd be awesome," Molly said.

"Cool. I was thinking we could rent a movie and watch it at my house."

"Sure, sounds good. There's this cheesy horror movie that my friend has been telling me about, I've been wanting to watch it lately."

"Ok, perfect. I love cheesy horror movies."

"Awesome. Me too."

"Ok, I got to go, but I'll see you in front of the locker rooms tomorrow," Haley said.

"See you there," Molly answered, "Bye."

"Bye," Haley said, wondering if she just set up a date.

* * *

All Haley could think about the rest of that night and the next say at school was Molly. She was really excited to hang out with her again, and curious to see where things were going with the two of them. She felt like Molly liked her too, but wanted to be absolutely sure before she got too excited.

"Hey," Haley said to Molly as she exited the girls' locker room.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," she said as she turned to walk to the parking lot. They decided to both drive since they were going to Haley's house, and it wouldn't make sense to have her drive Molly back to school after the movie. "So I'll meet you at the video store?"

"Yeah, see you in 5," Molly said.

When they got there they walked into the store and headed over to the horror section.

"So what's the name of the movie your friend recommended?" Haley asked.

"The Ginger Dead Man," she replied.

"Wow, with a title like that it's got to be good, or really bad, but when it comes to horror movies they're the same thing."

"So true," Molly said, "The cheesier the better."

"Definitely," Haley agreed.

They found the movie and headed to the check out counter. After paying they got back in their cars and Molly followed Haley to her house.

"So this is it, come on in," Haley said to Molly.

They said hi to Haley's mom and other sister, Quinn, then headed upstairs to Haley's room. She popped the movie into the DVD player as Molly sat on the bed. Once she got it set up Haley joined Molly on the bed and they both laid down to watch the movie.

"Wow, that was definitely a winner," Molly said as the movie ended.

"Oh yeah," Haley agreed, "I especially like the part where the blood falling into the dough brought the gingerbread man to life after it was baked."

"Yeah, quite creative," Molly said as she moved closer to Haley.

Haley tensed up as Molly sat up a bit and leaned over her. Her face was 4 inches away from Haley's when Molly looked into her eyes and asked, "You're gay, right?"

Haley was caught off guard, she paused for a couple seconds then managed to whisper, "Yeah," right as Molly leaned in all the way and kissed her. After a few seconds Molly broke the kiss, said "Good. Me too," and kissed her again.

Haley's heart was beating super fast, she couldn't believe this was finally happening. As they continued she managed to relax a bit, it just felt so right.

Then the door burst open with Lucas saying "Hales, so I was thinking more about the Peyton situation and…" as he turned he saw the two girls making out on the bed.

"Woah!" he said as they sprang apart. After a few seconds of silence and everyone looking very uncomfortable he said "well that's new. So I'm just going to come back later," and left Haley's room without looking her in the eye.

Molly and Haley looked at each other, not sure what to do. Finally Haley said "So that was Lucas, the best friend which is why he didn't bother to knock. Umm, sorry about that," she said looking embarrassed.

"It's ok," Molly said. "So from his shocked expression I take it you're not out to him yet? Or, well, you weren't until 2 minutes ago?"

"Yeah, hadn't gotten up the courage to tell him yet, but now I guess I don't have to," she chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, that's one way of looking at it," Molly said while sitting up on the bed. "So have you told anyone that you're gay yet?" she asked Haley.

"Nope, planning on starting with friends though, family later."

"That's how I did it," she paused, "Well, I haven't gotten to the family yet, except for my sister. She straight up asked me last year, and I couldn't bring myself to lie to her. But all my friends know, including the whole soccer team. They're all really supportive."

"That's awesome. Good for you."

"Thanks," Molly said while standing up.

"So what now?" Haley asked.

"How about more of this?" Molly asked while pulling Haley to her and kissing her again. "But maybe we should lock the door this time," she said leading them to the door and locking it while kissing Haley the whole time.

* * *

After Molly left about an hour later Haley couldn't stop smiling. She was ecstatic that everything had gone so well. She had been so nervous that she was misreading the situation and Molly wasn't into her that way, but turns out that even an inexperienced lesbian has good gay-dar, well at least in this case. They had talked for a while before Molly left. They decided to take it slow at school, no kissing in public or holding hands. They're still getting to know each other and they want to make sure that this was going to turn into something.

After dinner Haley texted Luke asking him to come back over. He agreed. When he got there he looked pretty uncomfortable.

"Hey, thanks for coming," Haley greeted him.

"Yeah, I thought we probably needed to talk after that," he said while looking around, still not able to look her in the eye.

"Luke, look at me," Haley said. He looked up. "I've been wanting to tell you for such a long time, I just didn't know how to bring it up, and I was nervous about how you would react. You're my best friend," she paused, "the best friend I've ever had, and I don't want our relationship to change at all."

"Me neither, Hales. I love you, you're my best friend too. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. Well, when I think about it, the signs were there, I just didn't put them together. And I'm sorry about that, I could have made this easier for you."

"You don't need to apologize, I do. I should have known that you would react this way and told you earlier, so you wouldn't have had to find out the way you did. You're an amazing person with a beautiful heart, and I'm so lucky to have you as my best friend," she said with tears in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug as she cried on his shoulder. She was crying with relief, she now knew that she would have her best friend to confide in about everything, and that he wasn't going anywhere. It had been a crazy day, but she couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. "I love you," she said as they continued to hug.

* * *

"Hey man, did you talk to Haley for me?" Nathan asked Lucas as he walked up to the table Luke was sitting at, working on some homework.

"Oh, sorry man, no, not yet," he lied as he looked up at his brother. He had no idea what he was supposed to tell Nathan. He couldn't tell him the truth, Haley wasn't ready for other people to know yet, and he respects that she needs time. But he also didn't want Nathan bothering Haley all the time. "I'll do it soon though, don't worry," Luke said.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it."

"No problem," Lucas said as he was thinking the opposite.

* * *

Molly left the science building after biology lab and walked up to Carissa, her best friend. "Hey, how was class?" she asked.

"Boring, as usual," she replied, "What's up with you? You look happy."

"Remember that girl I told you about, Haley?"

"Yeah, the one you were gushing about last week."

"I was not gushing, what does that even mean? Well anyway, we made out yesterday. I was right," she sang, "she's totally gay!"

Carissa laughed then said, "Awesome, I'm happy for you. What's she like?"

"Really cool, fun, loves sports, totally hot, and she's a cheerleader," Molly said.

"Ha, I knew you'd bag a cheerleader eventually," Carissa said.

"I didn't bag her, don't be crude."

"It's part of my charm, get over it. So are you guys dating or girlfriends?" Carissa asked.

"Dating, we only started hanging out a week ago, I don't move as fast as you do."

"Yes, well not everyone can have my stellar self-confidence," Carissa stated.

"Right," Molly said while rolling her eyes. "But she's also a newbie, so we're not going to rush things. She wasn't out to anyone until her best friend, Lucas Scott, walked in while we were making out on her bed."

"Oh damn. Nice job Moll, that takes talent. Outing a girl you've known for a week to her best friend."

"She didn't seem mad, just a little embarrassed. I need to find her and ask how it went with Lucas after I left. She said she was going to invite him over after dinner to talk. I hope it went well."

"Well try not to kiss her when you see her and out her to the whole school," Carissa said.

"Yeah, thanks, because that's totally what I was going to do. You've been super helpful as always," Molly said.

"You're welcome. It's a gift, really."

"Right… See you later."

"Later," Carissa said.

* * *

Lucas was walking through campus looking for Peyton when he spotted Molly. "Hey, Molly, wait up!" he yelled as he jogged to catch up with her.

"Lucas, what's up?" she asked, curious.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm cool with it. Haley is really happy, and you seem like a cool person. But just be careful, I don't want her to get hurt, or end up doing stuff she's not ready for, like coming out to people. She's nowhere near ready for the whole school or her parents to know."

"I would never pressure her," Molly said, "I know how hard it is to put yourself out there with this and risk rejection, or even getting disowned by a homophobic family. I know this is not something you rush, I haven't even told my family yet, just friends. And I appreciate that you're trying to protect her, but I got this, don't worry about her."

"Ok, well, that's all I wanted to say. See you around," he said.

"Ok, later."

Molly continued her search for Haley after talking to Lucas, thinking about how lucky Haley is to have a best friend like him who was looking out for her. He seems like a nice guy.

"There you are," Molly declared. "So I was looking for you just now to ask how it went with Lucas last night, when he came running up to me and told me himself."

"Oh yeah? What did he say?" Haley inquired.

"Just that he's ok with us, and that I have to be careful. He threatened to hit me with a frying pan if I hurt you," she said.

"He what?" Haley yelled.

"Yeah, said he's always wanted to know if it makes the kind of sound that they give it in on TV and the movies when someone smacks someone over the head with one."

"He did not," Haley accused.

"Alright he didn't, but you half believed me for a second," she said while smiling, "and aren't you at least a little bit curious if it makes that sound? It always sounds terrible in the movies, makes me cringe, but not as much as when someone falls down some stairs. That's brutal, because the hits and bangs just keep coming, until you get to the bottom," she said as she cringed.

"You're a little weird, aren't you?" Haley asked with a smile.

Without missing a beat Molly said "Just a bit, you'll get used to it."

"Ok," Haley laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Nervous but Ready… Maybe**

Peyton and Brooke were talking at a table during lunch when Haley approached them. "Hey guys," Haley said.

"Whoa, what is this?" Peyton asked as she turned to face Brooke. "Is the ever elusive Haley James gracing us with her presence at lunch once again?"

"Well it looks like her," Brooke played along, "but it's probably just an imposter wearing a mask, because the real Haley James is too important to have lunch with us anymore."

"Knock it off guys, I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, I've been busy," Haley said as she sat down, "and I'm allowed to have other friends than you two, right?"

"Of course Haley, we were only joking. We just miss you," Peyton explained.

"Yeah, sorry guys, I miss you too."

"So who are these other friends that have been taking up all of your time lately?" Brooke asked.

"Oh you know, just been hanging out with Lucas mostly, oh and Molly Finn."

"Oh yeah, we made you go talk to her about Nathan at my party, so you guys are friends now?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, she's really cool, not into Nathan either though, so that plan's not going to work," Haley said.

"Really? What is going on? I thought you had to be the only one who wasn't in to him, now there's another one?" Brooke replied. "I just don't get it."

"Let it go Brooke, it's not that big of a deal," Peyton said while noticing that Haley was looking away.

"Fine. Whatever. But you must think Lucas is attractive though, right?" she asked Haley.

"Umm, well, he's my best friend, practically my brother, I don't think of him like that."

"That's understandable," Peyton said, trying to end the conversation, she could tell that Haley was uncomfortable. "So what are your plans for after school?" she asked.

"Molly and I are studying together at her house for a history test."

"Wow, you guys know how to have fun," Brooke said sarcastically.

"They don't just give out straight A's Brooke, you have to work for them," Haley pointed out.

"Right, well you have fun working while Peyt and I are shopping."

"I will, thanks," Haley said with a smirk and a far off look, which did not go unnoticed by Peyton. "Well I got to get to class," she said when she snapped back to the present, "I'll see you guys later."

"Later Haley."

* * *

Haley was a bit nervous as she was on her way over to Molly's house after school. She was excited to see her, of course, but kind of nervous to be in a room alone with her again. This was all new to Haley, but she was excited and enjoying all the time she has been spending with Molly. It all felt so right, she kept thinking.

"Hey, come on in," Molly said when she opened the front door for Haley.

"Wow, nice house," Haley said as she looked around at all the fancy decorations and nice furniture.

"Thanks, my mom decorated everything herself, and some of these paintings are hers too. She's an artist," she informed Haley as they walked down the hall.

"Wow, she's really good," Haley said as she examined one of the paintings on the wall.

"Yeah, so my room's up here." Molly grabbed Haley's hand and led her up the stairs. The second after Molly closed and locked her bedroom door she pulled Haley close to her body, put her hands on Haley's waist, leaned in and kissed her.

"I've been wanting to do that all day," Molly informed her.

"Me too," Haley said softly.

As the kiss became more passionate they moved over to the bed. They laid down and Molly looked Haley in the eyes, said "you're so beautiful," then started kissing her again.

Their intense make out session lasted quite a while, with both girls enjoying the other a lot. When they finally separated they just looked each other in the eyes and smiled. Then Molly got up, expressed her desire for a sandwich, which Haley agreed sounded good, so Molly went down to the kitchen to make them.

As Haley was sitting on the bed thinking, she heard a knock on the door. "Yes?" she asked, not sure what she was supposed to do. The door opened and a girl stepped inside the room. "Hi, I'm Nicole, Molly's sister," she introduced herself.

"Oh, hi, I'm Haley, Molly's friend," she said.

"Yeah, I gathered that," she said with a knowing look. "So when did you and my sister start dating?" she asked.

"About two weeks ago," Haley answered. "We met at a party then started hanging out."

"Cool, well it was nice to meet you, but I should go before she catches me in here," Nicole said.

"Ok, see you around," Haley said.

A couple minutes later Molly returned with two gourmet looking sandwiches. "Here you go m'lady," she said with a curtsy.

"Why thank you m'lady," Haley responded with a laugh. "Wow, this looks amazing."

"It is. My sandwich making skills are enviable," Molly informed her.

"Good to know," she said as she took a bite. "So your sister looks a lot like you," Haley stated a few minutes later.

"Oh does she?" Molly asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she stopped in while you were downstairs. She seems nice."

"She can be. She likes to stick her nose in my business though, it's one of her specialties actually. I hope she didn't bother you too much," Molly said.

"No, it was fine, I just wanted to let you know I met her. She goes to our school, right? I feel like I've seen her around."

"Yeah, she's a freshman, when she bothers to show up to school that is, she's not much of a fan. A bit of a rebel, that one, but she's a good kid mostly, just gets bored easily," Molly explained.

"Sounds a bit like Taylor," Haley said, "a free spirit."

"That's for sure," Molly agreed.

The girls continued to talk for a little while longer, then realized that they should really start studying for that history test which is the next day, so they got down to work.

* * *

Haley was sitting at a table in the tutoring room looking over papers when Nathan came in just as his session was scheduled to start.

"Hey, so good news," Nathan said to Haley, "My grandpa's going to let us borrow his boat for our date Friday night."

"We don't have a date Friday night, Nathan," Haley said with exasperation in her voice."

"Well we don't yet, but once you say yes you'll make me the happiest guy in the school," he said with a hopeful expression.

"Nathan," she sighed, "I'm not going to go out with you, please stop asking."

"Until you give me a real reason why you won't go out with me I'm not going to stop," he said.

"Alright, fine," she said, "I'm seeing someone else, and it's going really well. I didn't want to say anything until I knew it was going somewhere, and it definitely is, so please stop asking me out."

"Oh," he paused. "So who's the guy?" Nathan asked.

"You don't know him, he doesn't go here," Haley replied.

"Ok, well I gotta go," he said as he left the room in a hurry.

"Nathan! We have a session!" she yelled after him, but he was already gone.

* * *

Molly was feeling really good about things with Haley, she felt like this could turn into something awesome. She couldn't help but think and talk about Haley constantly when she wasn't with her.

"Ok, that's it," Carissa declared, while cutting Molly off mid sentence. "I've listened to you go on and on about this girl for the past few weeks, if she's so awesome stop being selfish and share her with your bestest friend. Invite her over for dinner at my house Saturday night. I need to get to know this girl. And I'll have Justin come, it'll be a double date type thing. No complaints out of you! This is happening," Carissa stated as Molly was about to protest.

She sighed, "Ok, fine, I'll invite her, but you have to be on your best behavior," Molly warned. "Don't be too bitchy and intrusive, I know it's hard for you, but Haley's really amazing and I don't want you scaring her off."

"Fine, fine. Best behavior," Carissa promised.

* * *

"Haley!" Peyton called across the yard.

"Hey Peyton, what's going on?" Haley asked.

"Just wanted to invite you to Nathan's party this Saturday night, it's going to be awesome, you have to come, bring Molly too."

"Oh, sorry but I can't make it. Molly and I already have plans to hang out at her friend Carissa's house that night," Haley stated.

"Oh, ok," Peyton looked disappointed, "next time then."

"Yeah, for sure."

"So it seems like you and Molly have gotten pretty close over the past few weeks," Peyton said.

"Yeah, we have. She's really cool Peyton, and our personalities match really well. It's been fun hanging out with her."

"That's cool," she paused for a second, "so is she a good kisser?" Peyton asked with a smirk.

"What? How would I know?" Haley stammered, "Why would you ask that?"

"Oh come on Haley, I've seen your face when you talk about her, and I've seen you guys together at lunch, and you're pretty much always with her now. Plus you've never had a boyfriend and you always get uncomfortable when Brooke forces you to talk about boys," Peyton said.

Haley paused for a second, then looked up at Peyton and said "ok, you're right," she paused again, "I've been wanting to tell you that I'm gay for a while, even before Molly came along, but I was too scared."

Peyton nodded. "You don't have to be scared. I know there are ignorant jerks out there who have probably made you feel bad about who you are with all their homophobic BS, but I'm your friend Haley, and I'll be there for you no matter what."

"Thanks Peyton," Haley said as she pulled her into a hug, "It's really great to hear you say that."

"Of course, Hales. But you didn't answer my question," Peyton pointed out.

"What question?"

"Is she a good kisser?"

Haley laughed then said "yeah she is," while looking a little embarrassed, but happy.

"That's my girl," Peyton said.

* * *

"So guess what I did" Peyton said to Brooke as she started to open her locker.

"What'd you do?"

"I figured out the real reason why Haley doesn't want to go out with Nathan, and she said that it's ok that I tell you."  
"Well let's hear it, you know that has been bothering me," Brooke said impatiently.

"She's a lesbian," Peyton said.

"What? No she's not, she's way too hot for that, and she's a cheerleader."

"Lesbians can be cheerleaders too, Brooke, and they can be hot," Peyton stated.

"Are you serious? She's really gay?"

"Yep, and she and Molly are dating."

"No way," Brooke said, "I never would have guessed, but yeah, that would explain why neither of them are in to Nathan, because they're both gay," she paused, "and the universe makes sense again," Brooke said. "Huh," Brooke said, "it does explain a lot about Haley, I just thought she was a little weird, but turns out she's just gay instead. Alright, sure, I'm cool with that."

Peyton laughed at Brooke's reasoning then said "Good. But anyway, she seems so happy talking about Molly, it's really cute. And oh, you have to keep this quiet for now, neither of them are ready to be out to the whole school, so don't tell anyone, alright?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, I won't," Brooke agreed.

* * *

Nathan stormed into the gym looking for Lucas. He spotted him shooting around before practice began. Nathan hurried over to him and pushed him right as Lucas was trying to say hi. "What the hell, man?" Lucas demanded.

"Why did you lie to me?" Nathan asked.

"What are you talking about? I didn't lie to you."

"Haley's dating someone," Nathan stated. "You said you would talk to her for me, why would you do that if she was already dating someone else?"

"I didn't know how to tell you, man. You were so into her, I didn't want to be the one to crush you," Lucas said.

"Right, so you wimped out and lied to me instead. Not cool, man," Nathan said, calming down a little. "So who's the guy?" he asked after a minute.

"The guy? Umm, I don't know, I haven't met him yet," Lucas said.

"She said he doesn't go here, what school does he go to?"

"Uh, Parkview, I think. She hasn't told me much about him though," Lucas said, trying to get off the topic of Haley's imaginary guy.

"She had to have told you his name though, right?" Nathan asked.

"Uh, yeah, his name is Nick, don't know the last name though," Lucas lied.

"Alright, thanks man, I'm going to change for practice," he said as he headed to the locker room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Moving Forward**

Haley and Molly arrived at Carissa's house Saturday night, ready for an interesting evening, at Molly's warning. She explained to Haley that Carissa's a unique person, very blunt, a little bitchy, slightly odd, but she's always there when Molly needs her. She's also funny, in a sarcastic way.

"Good, you're here," Carissa said as she opened the door, "Come in and take your clothes off," she demanded with no expression.

"Nice to see you too, Carissa," Molly said as she ignored her and led the way to the kitchen.

"This is Haley, and Haley, this is Carissa and her boyfriend Justin," Molly gestured to the guy standing by the table.

"Hey, nice to meet you guys," Haley said.

"Yeah, you too," Carissa and Justin said.

"I made pizza, let's eat it," Carissa announced as she started loading up the plates with pizza and salad.

"What she means is that she ordered cheese pizza and put her own toppings on it," Molly explained.

"Banana and bacon, it's the best thing you haven't eaten yet, including Molly's va-."

"Carissa!" Molly yelled as she shot her a look. "What did I tell you, best behavior," she hissed at her best friend.

"I know, I know. I was just kidding, gosh, sorry," she turns to Haley, "It's really good."

"Awesome, can't wait to try it," she said, amused by Carissa's antics.

The rest of the meal passed without any more interruptions, or scoldings. Carissa was leading the conversation mostly, getting to know Haley.

After finishing three slices of the banana bacon pizza Haley said "Wow, that pizza was actually pretty good, I'm surprised."

"Why thank you very much," Carissa said, "my own special creation."

"Yeah, she likes to mix foods you wouldn't normally put together," Justin said, "and sometimes her creations aren't too bad, especially this pizza."

"You never know what could be really good together until you try it," said Carissa.

"Yeah, you also don't know what weird combos will make you throw up until you try them, especially peanut butter covered tomato slices on pancakes smothered with syrup and mustard."

"I didn't think that one was that bad, I was just trying to combine breakfast and lunch. And It's not my fault you have a weak stomach," Carissa argued.

* * *

On Sunday morning Luke went over to Haley's house, needing to tell her that he named the imaginary guy she's dating, and enrolled him at Parkview…

"Yeah, so I said he name was Nick and he goes to Parkview," Lucas said as he finished recapping his conversation with Nathan for Haley.

"Nick, alright, sure," Haley said, "So what does he look like? And what's his favorite color?" she asked jokingly.

"Very funny. You started this by saying there was another guy, and I didn't want to be the one to tell him that the guy is actually a girl, that's all yours," he said.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for lying for me. I had to tell him something, and a fake boyfriend seemed like a good option at the time. I'll tell him soon though so you don't have to keep lying to your brother."

"Yeah, thanks," Luke said.

"So how was his party last night?" Haley asked.

"Oh, the party? It was good, fun, lots of people, beer… lots of beer," Luke said awkwardly.

"What happened? Why are you being weird?" Haley questioned.

"Oh, well… Brooke and I kind of hooked up last night," he said.

"Brooke? What about Peyton?"

"I don't know. It just kind of happened. I like Brooke a lot though."

"Does Peyton know?"

"I don't know, I'm not going to tell her though, at least not right now."

"Ok, fine. Do what you want," Haley responded.

"That's just it, I don't know what I want. I guess I'll just see what happens, see where things go."

"Well I hope that works out for you," Haley said.

"Yeah, so anyway, how was your dinner with Molly and her friend?" he asked.

"It was good, Carissa's quite a character, seems cool though."

They chatted for a little bit longer then Luke left. Haley was wondering what was going to happen with Luke, Brooke, and Peyton, predicting that things could easily get messy.

* * *

Later that day Haley went downstairs to the kitchen to make some lunch. Quinn was at the sink doing the dishes when she walked in. "Hey Hales, mom told me to tell you to vacuum all the rooms upstairs today," Quinn said.

"Ok. So what are you up to today?"

"Just studying for a chemistry test, finishing a Spanish paper, and working on a speech for my public speaking class, you know, the usual."

"Wow, that's a lot," Haley said.

"Yeah, that's how the end of the semester always is, just a few more weeks until Christmas break though, can't wait." Quinn goes to North Carolina State which is about 45 minutes from Tree Hill. After graduating high school she decided to go somewhere close so she could still live at home. She worried about Haley a lot, especially after the divorce, and she wanted to be able to be there for her.

"So what have you been up to lately? I haven't seen you too much," Quinn asked Haley.

"Just school, tutoring, and hanging out with friends mostly," Haley replied.

"That's cool. Your new friend Molly seems pretty nice."

"Yeah, she's really cool," Haley smiled. "We've been having a lot of fun."

"Awesome, I'm glad," Quinn said.

"Quinn?" Haley asked.

"Yeah?"

"Umm, there's something I want to tell you. I've been wanting to tell you for a while actually."

"Alright, let's hear it," Quinn encouraged.

"Well, umm, Molly and I aren't just friends," she said slowly, "we're dating." She paused, then said "I'm gay."

After a second Quinn said "Aw honey, I already knew that. Not that you're dating Molly, which is awesome by the way, but the gay part."

"You did?" Haley asked.

"I put it together years ago, probably before you even knew yourself. I think it's awesome. I was just waiting for you to tell me yourself."

"Thanks Quinn," Haley said with tears in her eyes, "You're the best." The sisters hugged then Quinn asked "So what's she like?"

Haley launched into her answer and Quinn smiled at how happy she seemed just talking about this girl. "Well she sounds awesome, bring her around here more often, I'd like to get to know her," Quinn stated.

"Ok, I will," Haley answered with a smile.

* * *

"Hey guys, can we join you?" Haley asked Peyton and Brooke at lunch.

"Of course," Peyton said while she moved her bag off the bench so Molly could sit down.

The conversation flowed naturally as the four girls enjoyed their lunches and got to know each other a little better. Haley was glad that her friends were getting along well with Molly, she was also really happy that so far everyone she's come out to has responded supportively. She's a little worried about telling her dad, but she thinks her mom and Taylor will be fine with it. She also figures that they probably already know like Quinn did, apparently she wasn't as good at hiding it as she thought she was, but that's ok. She's sure her dad has no idea though. He's very religious and conservative, and has made quite a few homophobic remarks over the years. Despite this, Haley is very close to her father. They go to baseball and football games together and he loved going to all of her water polo games. They always had a great time when she had an out of town tournament, staying at a hotel and just hanging out together. She really doesn't want to lose her relationship with him, but she also realizes that their relationship means nothing if he doesn't approve of who she is as a person.

After analyzing the situation she paused her thoughts on the subject and rejoined the conversation. Brooke was asking Molly when she first knew that she was a lesbian.

"Well there wasn't one crystallizing moment, it was more of a gradual realization," Molly responded.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Haley interjected. "How old were you when you realized it?" Haley asked Molly.

"Fourteen, didn't tell anyone until I was 16 though."

"Wow, I was still oblivious at 14, didn't admit it to myself until I was 16, which was only a year ago," Haley said.

"That's ok, everyone figures it out on their own time, it doesn't mean anything that it took you longer."

"Yeah, so when are you guys planning on telling your parents?" Peyton asked them.

"Well, it's funny that you ask that Peyton, because I was thinking of doing it soon when I introduce my girlfriend to them," Molly said as she turned to look at Haley.

"Your girlfriend?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, I like you a lot Haley, and this past month and a half has been awesome, so what do you think? Will you be my girlfriend?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes," Haley said with a huge smile on her face.

They hugged as Peyton and Brooke congratulated them.

* * *

Nathan was running sprints as Luke re-entered the gym from the locker room after practice. "You still at it man?" Luke asked his brother. "We just had a two hour practice, why don't you take a break?"

"I'm not tired, and I have to push myself if I want to be better," he stated as he continued running.

"How are you not tired? You're covered in sweat, looks like you took a shower with your clothes on," Luke pointed out.

"Well I didn't, and I'm just not tired, so get off my back," Nathan snarled.

"Woah man, no need to get nasty, I was just saying you look like you've been working hard," Luke replied. "I gotta go work at the café, but I'll see you later, don't wear yourself out. We've got a game on Saturday," he said on his way out. Luke was a little worried about Nathan. He had been reacting more aggressively than normal and had been working out twice as hard as usual. He didn't know what was going on with his brother but he was going to try to find out.

* * *

"Hey Luke, how's it going?" Brooke said as she walked up next to him in the hall.

"Brooke, it's good," he said. "Where are you off to?" he asked.

"I was thinking the janitor's closet, and that you should join me," Brooke said seductively.

"Is that right?" he asked with a smirk. "We have class in 10 minutes Brooke," he pointed out.

"I think they can manage without us," she replied as she pulled him into the closet.

* * *

"So you really want me to be there when you come out to your parents?" Haley asked Molly. They were hanging out in Haley's room, just watching TV and enjoying each others company.

"I do, I'll feel better having you by my side. My parents are a bit intense, especially my dad. When he gets mad it can get scary, but they're good people. It should be fine," Molly said.

After a few minutes of silence Molly said "It's kind of exciting, being about to tell them, because then I won't have to hide this part of my life anymore."

"Yeah, it sucks having to pretend to be something you're not," Haley stated.

"It really does," Molly agreed.

After another half hour of hanging out in Haley's room they girls decided to go down to the kitchen and get some dinner. Quinn was at the stove as they came in.

"Hey guys, I'm making pancakes you want some?"

"Yes please," Molly answered enthusiastically, "I love brinner."

"Brinner?" Haley asked.

"Breakfast for dinner," Molly explained.

"Right. Yeah, sounds good Quinn. I'll make some eggs to go with it."

"And I'll watch," Molly said.

"Alright," Quinn chuckled. "So what have you two been up to today?" she asked.

"Well," Haley said as she and Molly looked at each other.

Quinn saw them exchange glances and said "The PG version, please."

"What? You don't want to know about this?" Molly asked playfully as she pranced over to Haley, grabbed her, and kissed her.

"Not particularly," Quinn mumbled as she went back to flipping the pancakes.

They continued to kiss for a little bit longer and Quinn was about to tell them to cut it out right as their mom walked into the kitchen.

"Hi girls, I brought ice cream for dessert," she said as she spotted Molly and Haley by the fridge. "Oh," she said as they broke apart, "I, uh…"

"Mom," Haley said. "You're home."

"Yeah, I'm home," she paused, "and you're kissing Molly in the kitchen."

"Yeah, umm, she's my girlfriend," Haley stated, and waited for a response.

"Your girlfriend. Right, well I figured this was coming sooner or later," Lydia said, then smiled, "I'm happy for you."

"You are?"

"Of course, Haley. You're my daughter and I'll love you forever, no matter what."

"I love you too, mom," Haley said with a giant smile.

"Well this whole coming out thing has been going well for us lately," Molly observed, "Let's just hope my parents are as cool as your mom."

"I'm sure they will be honey. A parent will always love their child," Lydia said warmly.

Haley and Quinn continued to make brinner for everyone. A couple minutes later Haley turned to Molly and said, "You have a talent. Twice now you've kissed me right before someone who I wasn't out to walked into the room."

"Really? Who was the other one?" Quinn asked.

"Lucas. It was the first time Molly came over to watch a movie, and it was our first kiss."

Quinn laughed, "Nice. Yeah, now that I think about it he did run out of here pretty quickly that day, said he forgot he had to help someone with something."

"It is a pretty quick way to get the point across though, you have to admit." Molly said.

"True. So when are you going to tell your parents?" Quinn asked Molly.

"We were thinking Friday night when Haley comes over for dinner."

"Cool, well good luck," Quinn said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Shame**

"So why do you think Lucas hasn't asked me out yet?" Peyton asked Brooke at school the next day.

"Uh, I don't know," Brooke said nervously.

"I mean, he had been flirting with me for about a month or so, and I thought he was about to ask me, but he still hasn't."

"Huh, well boys can be wimps sometimes," Brooke said.

"But there's no reason for him to hesitate, I mean I've definitely made it clear to him that I'm interested, and he's done the same, so I just don't get it."

"Yeah, me neither Peyt. Maybe he's gay too, it seems to be all the rage."

"All the rage?' Peyton laughed. "Who do you know besides Haley and Molly who are gay Brooke?" Peyton asked.

"Well… Umm, two people can be a rage, I guess… I don't know what I'm saying."

"No one does Brooke. At least there's another party this weekend," Peyton stated, "I need to get drunk, and who knows, maybe Lucas will grow a pair by then."

"Yeah, hopefully," Brooke said.

* * *

Haley shows up at Molly's house Friday night, excited to meet her family, but nervous about how her parents are going to react.

"Hey baby, come on in," Molly said as she let her in the house. "My mom made spaghetti, I hope you like garlic though, because it's pretty much her main ingredient," she said as they walked into the kitchen.

"I heard that Moll," her mom said, "and I always use just enough, never too much."

"Mom, sometimes it's all I can taste in your food, and you basically have permanent garlic breath, so I'd say you're using just a bit too much," Molly remarked.

"Well you're still alive so quit complaining. And you must be Haley," she said as she turned in her direction, "I'm Suzanne."

"Nice to meet you, and thank you for having me over," Haley said politely.

"Of course. I've heard a lot about you from Molly, thought it'd be nice to meet the new friend."

"Where's dad?" Molly interjected.

"On the phone with a client, he'll be down in a minute," her mom responded. "Can you tell Nicole it's dinner time?"

"Yeah, we'll go get her," Molly said as she led Haley out of the room.

"She seems nice," Haley said on their way up the stairs.

"She is. A bit eccentric though, but it keeps things interesting. Remind me to tell you the story of when she sold the pants she was wearing to a customer at the clothing store she works at," Molly said.

"Seriously? Now that's a dedicated employee," Haley said.

"Yeah," Molly said, "She drove home with no pants on…"

When they reached the hallway upstairs Molly knocked on Nicole's door telling her it was time for dinner.

"Ok, I'll be down in a minute," she responded.

Ten minutes later they were all seated at the table passing the food around, engaging in casual conversation. Around the time everyone was finishing up their meal Molly decided it was time, so she said "Mom, dad, there's something I want to tell you guys." Everyone looked at her waiting for her to go on. "Umm, well, I don't really know how to do this," she paused.

"You can tell us anything, honey," Suzanne said.

"Yeah, come on, out with it," her dad said sternly.

"Well, ok then. I'm gay," Molly said, "and Haley's my girlfriend."

Molly's mom smiled and was about to say something nice when her dad interrupted.

"Excuse me? What did you say?"

"I'm gay, dad," she repeated quietly.

"No," he said. "That's unacceptable. My daughter will not partake in that sinful lifestyle. You're confused. You are not gay," he declared.

"Dad, I know who I am. I'm not attracted to boys, that's just the way it is, and I hope that you can accept me for who I am," she stated.

He was silent for a minute, seething, then said "get out," with no emotion in his voice. "Get out of my house. Both of you," he spat at Molly and Haley. No one moved.

"Mark," Suzanne said, "what are you doing?"

"I don't want her here if she's a homosexual. They are disgusting, sinful, sick people, and I will not have a daughter who is gay. If you insist on living that way, you will not live here anymore."

Molly burst into tears, Haley grabbed her and hugged her. Suzanne started crying too and was trying to reason with him through her tears. "She is our daughter!" she roared.

"Not anymore," he said, emotionless again.

Nicole spoke up after this comment, "Then neither am I. I don't want to be your daughter anymore if you're this narrow minded and heartless. Molly is one of the best people I know, and who she's attracted to has nothing to do with it, and doesn't matter. If you can't see that then you're just another ignorant "Christian."

"Get out of my house," he said slowly and calmly at Molly and Haley.

They stood up, Molly still crying, and ran out the front door.

Suzanne was hysterical, yelling at Mark, crying. He wasn't fazed. Nicole stood there horrified.

"Grab your stuff Nicole," Suzanne said to her, "We're going to a hotel."

Nicole ran upstairs, packed a bag for herself and one for Molly. When she got back downstairs her mom was ready with a bag as well.

"I hope you realize what you've done," Suzanne said to Mark as she and Nicole left the house.

* * *

"Honey, what's wrong?" Haley's mom asked as Haley and Molly walked into the house, "Why are you back so soon? What happened?" She asked when she saw that Molly was crying.

"Dinner didn't go well," Haley stated as she was trying to comfort Molly.

"My dad… He… He kicked me out," Molly managed to get out between sobs.

"Oh dear God," Lydia said as she hugged them both, "I'm so sorry girls. You're staying here Molly, we have the space, as long as you need."

"Thanks Mom," Haley said.

After about 10 minutes of the girls talking with Haley's mom Molly had calmed down considerably. Lydia was trying to convince Molly that things would be alright when Molly's cell phone rang.

"It's my sister," she announced, "Hello?"

"Molly, Mom and I left the house, that was not ok. We're going to stay at a hotel tonight. I packed you a bag of your stuff, where are you?"

"I'm at Haley's, her mom is going to let me stay here." After giving Nicole directions to Haley's house, Molly hung up and waited for them to get there.

* * *

"Molly, honey," Suzanne said as she pulled her daughter into a hug. "I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that, you've done nothing wrong. I love you so much."

"I love you too mom," Molly responded. After a minute of hugging and consoling, Molly said "Oh, uh, this is Haley's mom, Lydia."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Suzanne, and this is my daughter Nicole. Sorry to intrude but I had to see her, and we brought an overnight bag," she stated.

"Of course, no problem," Lydia said, "Please come in, stay for a bit."

"Thank you," Suzanne said as they all walked to the living room and took a seat.

"So how long are you going to stay at a hotel?" Molly asked.

"A few days at least. I'm going to give your father a little while to let it soak in and realize what he did, then I'll go talk to him," Suzanne said. Molly nodded.

"Thanks for standing up for me mom, I really appreciate it," Molly said.

"Of course honey, I'd do anything for you, you're my daughter and I love you."

"I'm his daughter too," she said quietly.

"I know honey, I'm sorry."

"Would you like some coffee, or tea?" Lydia asked a few moments of silence.

"Tea would be great, I'll help you," Suzanne said as Lydia headed for the kitchen and she followed.

"Thank you so much for letting Molly stay here, I would take her to the hotel too, but I think the girls need to be together right now," Suzanne said.

"I agree, and don't worry about it, I can't imagine what she's going through right now, and you too," Lydia paused, "It's just too bad."

"Yeah. He's not a horrible man, but I hate him right now. I've been thinking about leaving him for a while, and if he doesn't realize that he just treated his daughter horribly and apologize, I'll probably do it soon," Suzanne said.

"It's very admirable of you to stick up for your daughter like this, a lot of women often just go along with what their husbands say in a situation like this because it would disrupt their lives to stand up against him. If there's anything I can do for you or Molly please let me know, in fact, why don't you and Nicole stay here tonight too. It's getting late and we have the room," Lydia offered.

"Are you sure? That would be a great help, just for the night, but I don't want to put you out."

"Not at all. You can stay in the guest room, Nicole can take my oldest daughter's room, and there's room for Molly in Haley's room, if you think that's appropriate."

"That's fine, thank you so much, really," Suzanne said sincerely.

Everyone got situated in their specified rooms and then reconvened in the living room for ice cream sundaes. Quinn walked in around this time and was caught up on the situation. They all enjoyed each others company and then retired to their rooms for the night.

* * *

The next morning Haley took Molly to the beach to try to take her mind off things and lift her spirits. It being the middle of winter the beach was pretty deserted. They walked along the edge of the water, talking, holding hands, and just enjoying the atmosphere and being with each other.

After a few minutes of silence Molly said "The only thing that's making this bearable, losing my father, is having you by my side. I'm so glad you came up to me at that party," Molly finished as she smiled at Haley.

"You want to know the real reason why I went to talk to you that night?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Well, Brooke and Peyton were helping me avoid Nathan, because he kept asking me out even though I kept saying no, and part of their plan was to get him interested in someone else, and they picked you. So I offered to go talk to you to see if you were interested in him."

"Oh really?" Molly said, amused.

"Yeah, so I did, while secretly hoping you weren't, and well, be both know what happened from there," Haley said.

"Yes we do," Molly agreed. "So what you're telling me is that I have Brooke and Peyton to thank?"

"Kind of. They're the reason I approached you that night, but I had had a crush on you for the past year and had been wanting to talk to you anyway, but I was a bit shy."

"Aw, that's cute," Molly said with a smile, "Well I'm glad you did, no matter what the motives."

* * *

The fiasco at the Finn house was, unfortunately, not the only drama to hit Tree Hill that night. Peyton, Lucas, Brooke, and Nathan had all attended a party at Bevin's house. Everyone was having a good time at the beginning of the night, drinking, dancing, playing games. Lucas again was drinking pretty heavily, as he still wasn't sure whether he wanted to be with Peyton or Brooke, but Brooke had set her sights on him, and she knows how to get what she wants. But she was pretty drunk too by the time she cornered Lucas in an upstairs hallway. They started making out and quickly moved it into a nearby bedroom.

"Brooke!" Peyton called out as she walked through Bevin's house searching for her friend. "I want to go home, where are you?" she yelled as she wandered around. After exhausting the ground floor with no luck Peyton climbed the stairs to continue her search up there. When she opened the first door on her right she Brooke half naked on top of a guy, typical, Peyton thought to herself.

"Brooke, there you are, let's go," she said.

"Peyton," Brooke said as Lucas sat up.

"Lucas?" Peyton asked with devastation on her face.

After a few seconds of no one moving or saying anything, Peyton mumbled that she'd find her own way home and left the room.

She went running down the stairs, trying not to cry when she saw Nathan standing by the door.

"Brooke's a whore, give me a ride home," she said as she grabbed Nathan and dragged him outside.

"What? Ok, slow down Peyt, are you ok?" he asked.

"No, take me home."

"Ok," he said as he unlocked his car and they climbed in.

"So what happened?" Nathan asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I walked in on Brooke and Lucas hooking up. She knew I liked him, she even gave me advice about him, and then she goes and hooks up with him anyway."

"That sucks, I'm sorry Peyt."

"Yeah, me too. Haley even told me that Lucas had talked to her about me, she said he was in to me too, I just don't get it," she said as she brushed some tears away.

"Haley? Was she at the party? I didn't see her," Nathan said.

"No, she wasn't there, she went to her girlfriend's house for dinner," Peyton said without thinking.

"What? Girlfriend?" Nathan asked, seriously confused.

"Ah shit, I didn't mean to say that," she paused, "well I guess it's too late now, yeah, she and Molly Finn are girlfriends," Peyton said.

"Are you serious?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, she's a lesbian Nathan, that's why she's been rejecting and avoiding you, so leave her alone," she added sternly.

"No way, I don't believe it," Nathan mumbled to himself, stunned.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Living in the Shadows **

After an enjoyable morning at the beach Haley and Molly headed back to the house. As they pulled up to the curb and got out of the car to go inside, Peyton flew around the corner in her red and black Comet and came to a quick stop right behind Haley's car.

"Woah, she's in a hurry," Molly pointed out.

"No kidding," Haley replied. "Hey Peyt, what's going on?" Haley asked when she got out of the car.

"I need to talk to you, about Lucas," Peyton stated as she walked past Haley and Molly toward the house.

"Alright, come on in," Haley said with a chuckle as she followed.

The three girls headed up to Haley's room before Peyton would say anything else.

"So what's going on?" Haley asked.

"They hooked up," she stated, "I saw them at the party last night."

"Who?" Molly asked.

"Brooke and Lucas," she replied. "She knew I liked him, and went behind my back," Peyton said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Aw, Peyt, I'm sorry," Haley said.

"She's supposed to be my best friend. What kind of friend does that?" Peyton asked.

"I don't know," Haley said as she hugged Peyton, "It'll be ok."

As they separated Peyton noticed Molly going through a bag of clothes on the floor. "Is that your stuff? Are you staying here?" Peyton asked Molly.

"Yeah, starting last night, there was a bit of an incident at my house, my dad told me not to come home," Molly stated.

"Oh my God, what happened?" she asked.

"Well, when I came out at dinner he said it was unacceptable and that I was no longer his daughter," she answered quietly.

"Oh Molly, I'm so sorry to hear that. That really sucks. What did your mom do?"

"She stood up for me, yelled at him, left the house. She, my sister, and I all stayed here last night. They're at a hotel now. It was an intense night."

"Wow, are you ok?" Peyton asked with concern.

"Kind of, I've been trying not to think about it because I'll probably burst into tears again," she said honestly.

"Wow, I'm so sorry Molly," Peyton said sincerely.

The three girls hung out for the rest of the afternoon, watching movies and making cookies. Peyton was feeling a little better knowing that she had friends like Haley and Molly who she could rely on, and Molly was just happy to be keeping busy, keeping her mind on other things.

* * *

"Lucas," Brooke said as she woke up next to him in an unfamiliar bed. "Hey, wake up," she nudged him.

"Huh, what's going on?" he asked groggily while looking around in alarm.

"How did we get here? Is this your room?" she asked Lucas.

"Yeah, this is my room," he said after a minute. "Jake dropped us off last night as neither of us was in any condition to drive," Luke informed her.

"Oh, ok," she said, then suddenly remembered Peyton, "What happened to Peyt? How'd she get home?" she asked.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"Remember what?"

"She walked in on us in Bevin's room when she was looking for you to go home," Luke stated, looking uncomfortable "Then she ran off."

"Oh shit, I gotta talk to her," Brooke said as she gathered her belongings and got ready to go.

"Wait," Lucas tried to stop her as she ran out the door, "I'll see you later, I guess," he said softly.

* * *

"Peyton, I need to talk to you, please call me back, I'm going crazy here. Please," she paused, "please call me." After walking to Bevin's house to pick up her car, Brooke had driven to Peyton's but she wasn't there, so she tried calling. She had left four messages on Peyton's phone, begging her to call her back, no response yet. Brooke didn't know what to do. She felt terrible about sneaking around behind Peyton's back the last two weeks, but she really liked Lucas and she didn't know how to tell her. She and Lucas just seem to click, and she's never had that with a guy before, so she couldn't bring herself to just walk away, even though she knew Peyton was in to him as well. It was an unfortunate situation, she just hoped she hadn't lost her best friend because of it.

* * *

Nathan had had a rough weekend, which seemed to be going around Tree Hill at the moment. After finding out the girl he was falling in love with was not into him, and never would be, he pouted for a while, and then threw himself into basketball. He was working himself harder than usual. After the game on Saturday, which the Ravens won, we went to the gym and worked out for two hours after being chewed out by his dad for the few mistakes he made during the game. And his Sunday was spent running sprints in the morning for two hours, lifting weights for an hour, then shooting free throws and jump shots for a couple more hours. He was focused and determined to be the best, but his dad still wouldn't cut him any slack. Nathan was clearly working himself too hard, but to Dan it still wasn't enough.

On Monday morning, an exhausted Nathan made it to school in a bad mood, just in time to see Haley and Molly pass by him together, which only made it worse. As the day passed he couldn't help but think about Haley constantly, as he sat in class, staring out the window, wondering how the hell he fell for a lesbian when he basically had the pick of the school, anyone he wanted he could get… except Haley. He was getting more and more depressed as the school day concluded, so he decided to blow off basketball practice and go to the gym to work out on his own. He needed something to take his mind off of Haley, and working out seemed to be the only thing that could do it.

* * *

"So has your mom talked to your dad yet?" Haley asked Molly while she drove them back to her house after school.

"No, she's stopping by the house today, she figured four days alone should show him what his life will be like from now on if he continues to act how he has been."

"Well I hope it goes alright," Haley said.

"I don't. I'm done with him. If he can just throw me out of the house and his life without hesitation, then what did I mean to him in the first place? Must not have been that much," she paused, thinking, "He was never a very affectionate father, not really that nice either. And looking at the kind of people they are, I don't see how my parents ended up together at all. They are both so different, and she's way too good for him. Divorce is probably the best thing, for everyone."

"Yeah, sometimes divorce can be a good thing. My parents weren't right for each other either. They don't hate each other or anything, it's just that they're better as friends that only see each other once in a while, rather than husband and wife."

Molly laughed, "That's cool that your parents still get along."

"Yeah, so how's Nicole doing with all this? Her world has been completely disrupted too, have you talked to her lately?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, I found her yesterday at school to check in, she seems to be doing alright, said the continental breakfast at the hotel is pretty good and there's an indoor heated pool."

"Ohh, a pool? Maybe we should check it out when we visit her and your mom, I bet you look pretty good in a bikini," Haley stated with a smirk.

"Oh I do, honey," she smirked as well, "sounds like a plan."

* * *

Nathan was at the gym again the next day, lifting weights in the empty weight room when a guy came in and started using a machine near him. Nathan was focused and had his headphones in so he didn't hear the guy speak at first.

"What?" Nathan asked as he paused his music and took the headphones out when he noticed that someone was speaking to him.

"I said it looks like you've been working hard."

"Yeah," Nathan replied, ready to blow him off.

"I've seen you around, and I know who you are, so I just wanted to let you know that I have something that could take all your hard work to the next level," the guy said as he continued to work out.

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"What I mean is, that I have access to steroids, I can hook you up," he stated plainly.

Nathan didn't know what to say so he asked, "Who are you?"

"Jesse Phillips. I'll give you time to think about it, here's my number if you decide you're interested," he said as he handed a business card to Nathan.

"Since when do drug dealers have business cards?"

Jesse laughed, then said "I'm an ethically questionable physical therapist, dealing's a little side project of mine, but I only risk it on athletes with the potential for greatness."

"Right, well I'm going to hit the showers, maybe I'll see you around."

"Later."

* * *

"Hey babe, my mom wants to take us out to dinner tonight, that work for you?" Molly asked Haley as they met up after soccer practice and tutoring ended.

"Yeah, of course, you want to stop by the house first?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, we have a couple hours," Molly stated.

The girls went to the James's house and did homework until it was time to meet up with Mrs. Finn.

"Hey," Molly said as she spotted her mom and Nicole waiting outside the restaurant.

"Molly," Suzanne said with a smile as she gave her oldest daughter a hug. "How are you?" she asked with concern.

"I'm doing alright mom, miss you though."

"I miss you too, come on, our table's ready," she said as she heard her name called.

The four of them sat at the table engaging in casual conversation, just catching up after almost a week apart. Then Molly's mom announced that she had something she wanted to talk to them about.

"I went to see your father yesterday," she stated.

"Can we please refer to him as Mark from now on?" Molly asked, "I think he's lost the right to be called my father."

"You're right, he definitely has," Suzanne said with a nod. "Well, Mark and I are getting a divorce. He's not the man I thought he was, hasn't been for a long time. I will be looking for a small house or an apartment for the three of us now, he's insisting on staying in the house."

"So we're not going back home?" Nicole asked, a bit shocked.

"No, honey, not to stay at least. I'll take you by in a day or two to get more clothes and whatever else you want right now before we find a place to move everything to."

"Ok," Nicole said quietly.

"Wow, mom, are you sure this is what you want? I don't want to be the one to break up your marriage," Molly said even though she was secretly relieved.

"It's not your fault, it's his. He's not a good person and it's about time we all distance ourselves from him," Suzanne said.

"Ok then," Molly responded.

* * *

"I want a new tutor," Nathan stated in an even tone.

"What?" Haley asked, startled at his sudden presence. She had been studying alone in the library when Nathan stormed in and stated his demand.

"I don't want you to be my tutor anymore, get me a new one," he said as he turned to leave.

"Why? We're making progress, you've been doing well, what's the problem?"

"I can't stand to be around you anymore," Nathan said. He paused and looked at her for a second, then said venomously "I don't associate with dykes," and walked away.

Haley sat there shocked for a minute, not able to move, stunned by his hurtful words and confused as to how he knew in the first place. After regaining her composure a few minutes later, Haley ran out of the library in search of her best friend.

"Lucas!" she yelled as she spotted him walking toward the gym.

He spun around at the sound of his name, spotted Haley, looking rather distressed, and rushed to her side, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Nathan," she said, "He freaked out on me, well kind of. Said he doesn't associate with dykes," she spoke the last word quietly, with tears in her eyes.

"What?" Lucas asked appalled.

"He said it right after he fired me as his tutor."

After her last statement he pulled Haley into a hug. "I'm sure he didn't mean it, I bet he's just lashing out because he's hurt, but that was not ok, I'll talk to him," Lucas promised.

* * *

"You can't ignore me forever, you know."

"I can try, and hope you'll give up and leave me alone, because I don't want to talk to you Brooke."

"I know, but please let me explain," Brooke said as she hurried to keep up with Peyton who was walking quickly trying to get away from her.

"What's there to say? You whored it up and got the guy who piqued your fancy for the week, didn't matter to you that it was the same guy I've been in to for the past year."

"Peyton, I-"

"No, Brooke," Peyton said as she spun to face the brunette, "I don't want to hear it. I thought you were my best friend, but a person would never do that to their best friend, so just leave me alone."

Brooke stood there with tears in her eyes as Peyton walked away, both girls heartbroken.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Unexpected

Peyton walked out of the science building just as lunch period was beginning. She made her way over to the table Haley and Molly were currently occupying. Haley had invited Peyton to sit with them at lunch because of the Brooke and Lucas situation. Peyton was quiet most of lunch break, off in her own world as Molly and Haley talked. Just as Peyton snapped back to the conversation Haley decided to tell them about her encounter with Nathan.

"So Nathan called me a dyke today, and said he didn't want me to be his tutor anymore," she said quietly as she looked down.

"Seriously? What the fuck?" Molly said, outraged.

"Wow, not cool, Haley, I'm sorry," Peyton offered.

"He said it with such hatred in his voice, like he was disgusted to know me. I don't even know how he found out I'm gay, I didn't tell him."

"Uh, sorry Haley," Peyton said sheepishly, "That was me, accidentally."

"What?"

"After I walked in on Lucas and Brooke I made Nathan drive me home, and in the car it just slipped out that you and Molly were together. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to. Brooke and Lucas just had me all riled up, and I had been drinking, I wasn't thinking straight."

Haley sighed, "Ok, it's alright, I know you didn't mean to. It sucks though," Haley said, "because I thought we were good friends, but turns out he's a homophobic asshole."

"There are a lot of them out there, you have to prepare yourself for negative reactions, because they're going to come. It really sucks when it's a friend or family member though," Molly stated.

"Yeah, it does," Haley agreed as they sat in silence for a few minutes.

* * *

"Hey Lucas," Brooke said as she bounced up to her blonde boyfriend.

"Hey Pretty Girl," he responded with a smile. "I missed you," he said as she stretched up for a kiss.

"You better, now let's go find Nathan," she said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as she searched for her boyfriend's brother.

"Nathan!" Luke called out as he spotted his brother walking toward the parking lot with his head down and hands deep in his pockets. "Where you goin?" Luke asked as he and Brooke caught up with him.

"The gym, I can't be here anymore," he stated as he unlocked his car.

"Wait a minute," Lucas said as he put his hand on the car door Nathan was about to open. "We need to talk. What the hell happened with Haley earlier?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just told her I wanted a new tutor," he said, then forcefully removed his brother's hand from his car, opened the door and threw his backpack onto the passenger seat.

"Oh, really? Well that's not the way she's telling it," Luke said. "She said you called her a dyke."

"Yeah, I did," he said, turning back to Lucas. "Homos are disgusting. I don't want to be friends with her anymore now that I know what she is," he said, with a look of repulsion on his face.

"Seriously, man? You're that narrow minded?" Lucas asked in disbelief and disappointment. "I thought you were better than that. Haley's a great person, it doesn't matter which gender she's into."

"Yeah, Nathan," Brooke cut in, "That's fucked up."

"Whatever, I'm out of here," he mumbled as he got in his car, slammed the door and drove off.

"Wow, that was ridiculous," Brooke stated, breaking the stunned silence, as the pair watched the star athlete and role model leave the parking lot.

* * *

The rest of the week went by slowly as the teenagers tried to get used to their new realities. Haley still perplexed about Nathan and how she is no longer his tutor, or friend for that matter; Molly and Nicole trying to get used to their parents' impending divorce; and Peyton not having Brooke to hang out with. So the end of the school week was a welcome event, which happened to be ending with a rally. No one was in much of a mood to celebrate the winter sports season teams, which includes basketball, soccer, and wrestling, but since the whole group was either on one of the teams, or a cheerleader, they all headed to the gym as classes ended for the day.

At these types of rallies each team gets up and introduces their players, then they can do whatever they want for a little while to get the crowd pumped up. All the teams involved and the cheerleading squad lined the sides of the basketball court, where the action would take place. Principal Turner made a few general announcements then called over the basketball team who would go first with their little choreographed routine they had planned. The team jumped up with basketballs in hand and got in formation. They dribbled the balls skillfully in unison to the cheers of their classmates, between their legs, behind their backs, putting on quite a show. After the routine Nathan passed his ball to the side, grabbed a microphone, and headed to the front to talk to the crowd.

"Alright everyone, as I'm sure you all know I'm Nathan Scott, captain of your Tree Hill Ravens," he started, which prompted a roar from the students. "Yep, you do know," he said cockily with a smirk, enjoying the attention. "Well, we're off to a good start this season, and these are the guys that help me do it," he said. As he called out the name of each player the crowd cheered as he stepped forward and waved. After Nathan announced the final player he walked back to the front.

"So that's the team, as I'm sure you already knew, and now it's time for the lesser known teams to be introduced. Why don't I kick them off, since I already got the mic, and your attention," he said as he walked around a little. "Let's go to the girls' soccer team, shall we? Come on girls, get up here!" he called.

The team was a bit shocked at Nathan's summons as the girls' basketball team was scheduled to go next, followed by the boys' soccer team, and then them, but they made their way from the side to the front anyway. Molly shot Haley a confused look as she followed her team.

"Alright, there we go," he said. "Why don't we get the captain up here," he paused, then added "whoever that is," to a few chuckles from the crowd.

Molly walked up to Nathan, as that was her title, suddenly a bit nervous, not sure what he was up to.

"Ah, that's right," Nathan declared, "It's Molly Finn. Let me give her a proper introduction." He walked over to Molly and put his arm around her. "Molly here is a junior, number 9, and the center midfielder," he started. "And as a first year captain she has led her team to a 5 – 2 record currently. She has great talent on the field, which should be expected though as she's a lesbian and they're generally good at sports," he said casually. At this announcement shock spread throughout the gym as Molly, horrified, couldn't believe what she had just heard Nathan say.

He quickly continued as he tightened his grip on the girl, "but her girlfriend, Haley James, is not quite as athletic, but she sure does look good in a mini skirt," he finished with a smirk.

No one quite knew what to do after this revelation. The crowd was mostly quiet, teachers and students alike were shocked by what had just happened, not totally sure if he was joking or not. Then Molly pushed her way out of Nathan's grip and ran out of the gym, quickly followed by Haley, both girls close to tears. A couple of Molly's teammates rushed after her while glaring at Nathan. After their departure, Nathan dropped the mic and walked casually out of the gym, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Principal Turner retrieved the microphone and tried to calm everyone down, not sure what to say himself. So after a minute of awkwardness he announced the names of the remaining soccer players and then called up the girls' basketball team, deciding to just go on with the program and to deal with Nathan later.

* * *

"What the hell, man? Why would you do something like that?" Lucas yelled at his brother after barging into his bedroom.

Nathan nonchalantly turned toward the door and said, "Do what, man?" like he had no idea what Luke could possibly be referring to.

"You know what I'm talking about, you jack ass. I can't believe you would do something so vindictive, outing them to the whole school like that?" he stops and looks Nathan directly in the eyes. "That was fucked up, and we're not friends anymore. I will tolerate you on the basketball court, but that is it. I guess Dan rubbed off on you more than I thought," he said. Then Lucas walked out of the room and out of the house without looking back. He was severely disappointed in his brother, having thought he was a better person than that.

* * *

Right after Nathan's surprise announcement at the rally, Haley had caught up with Molly outside the gym. They both looked at each other in disbelief of what had just happened, then hugged without saying a word. Just as they released their grip on each other they heard the gym doors open and Molly's teammates Cassie and Andrea appeared. They wanted to make sure their captain, and friend, was ok.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" Cassie asked apprehensively, not sure if that was the right question to ask.

"Yeah, umm," Molly paused, "that was… unexpected."

"Yeah, why the fuck did he do that?" Andrea asked.

"Because of me," Haley said quietly, "I'm so sorry that he took this out on you, baby," Haley said as she turned to look Molly in the eye. "I didn't know he was so spiteful and immature. I thought he was my friend," Haley finished with tears in her eyes.

"Babe, it's not your fault. And don't let him get you down, that's what he was trying to do. We need to brush it off and get on with our lives. And to be honest, it feels kind of liberating, knowing that my secret," she paused, "our secret, is, well, not a secret anymore."

"You're right," Haley said with a slight smile appearing on her face, "which means we can do this in public now," she said then leaned in and kissed her girlfriend, in public, for the first time ever.

When they pulled apart Cassie curiously asked, "How long have you two been together?"

"About a month," Haley answered.

"Cool. I had no idea, by the way," Cassie continued as she gestured at Haley, "I mean, you're a cheerleader."

Haley chuckled then said, "Yeah, well, being straight is surprisingly not a requirement to make the squad." The four girls continued to chat for a while longer then decided to go get some food together. By the end of the evening Molly and Haley were feeling alright about their sudden "coming out party," and they enjoyed a pleasant weekend with each other. Haley tagged along to Molly's soccer game and the whole team was very supportive of them, the coach included. So when Sunday night rolled around, they were feeling alright about facing their fellow classmates the next day.

As they walked onto campus Monday morning, hand in hand, they were greeted with mixed reactions. Some people ignored them like there was no reason to be fixated on the couple, others gave them dirty looks, while others, mostly male athletes, encouraged them to start making out. Neither of the girls were used to all the attention and they were both starting to get a little uncomfortable by it, so they decided to keep a low profile. They had lunch in the library which proved a successful avoidance technique. But then in Calculus, Molly's last class of the day, she got really ticked off.

"Hey, soccer lesbian! How many girls have you gone down on?" Derek Riley asked loudly before class began. He was seated three rows behind her and continued to hound her as she tried to ignore him, regretting getting to class early.

"Was cheerleader lesbian your first?" he continued. "She's pretty hot, nice job."

"Derek, shut the hell up," a girl two seats to the left of him said, in an icy tone.

"What?" he asked with a smirk, "I'm just trying to get to know soccer lesbian," he said to the enjoyment of his fellow immature jocks seated around him.

"Well, she's obviously not interested in getting to know you, and I can't see why anyone ever would be," the girl, Katie, shot at him without missing a beat.

Derek had no chance to respond to her comment as Mr. Donahue entered the classroom and commanded the class's attention. Molly was grateful for Katie's interference, but unfortunately Derek's comments didn't stop there. All throughout class he whispered rude, homophobic comments loud enough for his surrounding classmates to hear, and Molly was steadily getting more and more pissed off. And to make it worse she could tell that Mr. Donahue had heard some of the comments and was doing nothing to stop him. So after Derek said "It's too bad you're a homo, I'd totally do you," she couldn't take it anymore.

"Seriously?" Molly demanded as she stood up, sliding her chair back into the desk behind her with her momentum. "You're going to let him get away with this shit?" she directed at the teacher.

"Watch your language, Miss Finn," he said, "And I don't know what you're talking about."

She stared at him in disbelief before saying, "This is bullshit, I'm out of here." She grabbed her notebook and her bag and walked out of the room, letting the door slam behind her.

After it shut Mr. Donahue continued, "Alright then, moving on," but was cut off.

"Wow, you're just as much of a douchebag as Derek is, I'm out of here too," Katie said as she followed Molly's example, gathered her stuff and left.

In the hall she caught up with Molly who was just standing there, fuming.

"Hey, that was fucked up, sorry girl," Katie said.

The two had gone to the same schools their whole lives, occasionally having a class together, but didn't know each other that well.

"Yeah, I mean, after what happened Friday I was expecting some jack asses like Derek, but for Mr. Donahue to just let him do it and then pretend that it wasn't happening? That I wasn't expecting," Molly ranted.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, that was completely ridiculous. I'm going to Turner's office, that douche shouldn't get away with this."

"Really? Dude, thanks. I'm going to go chill outside, let me know if he wants to see me," Molly said.

"Yeah, no problem, later," Katie said as she walked with purpose to the front of the school.

* * *

"I'm sorry babe, that was really fucked up. I wouldn't have guessed Mr. Donahue was like that. He was always really nice when I had him last year," Haley said after Molly replayed the events from class earlier that day for her.

"Yeah, well I guess we're seeing everyone's true character now that our secret is out," Molly stated.

"Yeah, it's just disappointing though to see how many people are homophobic and narrow minded. Hating people for something they have no control over, like sexual orientation or skin color, has never made any sense to me. We're all just people trying to live."

"Yeah, it's depressing."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Dealing

After soccer and cheerleading practice were over for the day the pair decided to stop by the hotel Molly's mom and sister were staying at so Molly could spend some time with Nicole. They said hi to each other at school, and spoke a bit longer once in a while, but over all the sisters had been drifting apart, and Molly decided she needed to make more of an effort to keep in touch with Nicole.

They pulled into the hotel parking lot and Haley killed the engine. Molly had been to visit several times in the past couple weeks so she led the way to the room her mom and sister were occupying. Molly had noticed that her mom's car was not in the parking lot, she must still be at work, Molly thought. After exiting the elevator they walked down the hall and she knocked on the door of room 403 and waited for Nicole to answer the door. Her mom had given her an extra key to the room, but she didn't want to barge in on Nicole.

After a minute of there being no answer, Molly knocked again, louder and yelled "Nicole, it's me! Are you in there?" There was still no response.

"She could be taking a nap, or maybe she's down at the pool," Haley suggested.

"Yeah, maybe. Well let's go inside to check if her stuff is here, then I'll call her," Molly said as she dug the credit card shaped key out of her bag. She inserted the card into the door then opened it as the green light lit up.

Molly and Haley entered the room to find it empty, but Nicole's backpack was on the chair and her shoes on the ground.

"Well I guess she's around the hotel somewhere, probably at the pool like you said," Molly stated.

"Yeah, well give her a call to make sure, I'm going to use the bathroom."

"Ok," Molly said as Haley dropped her stuff on the bed and made her way to the bathroom, "you feel like swimming too, if that's where she is?" Molly called out.

"Sure," Haley said as she tried to open the door, but it stopped as if something was in front of it. She pushed it open a bit more by applying force, until it was wide enough for her to see what was in the way.

"Oh my God!" she yelled, "Molly! Come here!"

Molly dashed the few feet to the bathroom with a feeling that something was really wrong.

"What? Oh my God, Nicole!" she yelled as she saw her little sister lying on the ground, unconscious. She pushed past the halfway open door and grabbed her sister, lifting her up to a sitting position as she crouched next to her.

"Call 911!" she yelled desperately to Haley as she held her sister and tried to listen for breathing.

Haley rushed to the bed and grabbed her cell phone to call for help. She informed the woman who answered that they just found Nicole passed out in the bathroom and have no idea how long she had been that way. The woman asked where they were then told Haley that an ambulance was on its way. She stayed on the line trying to keep the young girls calm as they waited for help. She also instructed Haley to look around to see if she could find anything that could explain why Nicole had passed out, like a bottle of pills or illegal drugs. Haley searched the bathroom frantically and didn't find anything. Then she heard noise in the hall and opened the door to find three paramedics jogging down the hall to their room.

She got out of the way and they rushed inside and started working on Nicole immediately. Molly was hysterical and one of the paramedics grabbed her and spoke to her in an authoritative yet calming way. He told her to call her parents and tell them that she was going to the hospital with Nicole in the ambulance and that they should meet them there. She did as she was told and mechanically followed the paramedics outside of the hotel and into the ambulance.

Haley stayed behind as they left, deciding it would be a good idea to clean up the mess the paramedics had made in their haste to save Nicole's life. There was trash all over and it looked like a hurricane had hit the room. She cleaned everything up so Molly's mom wouldn't have to see the mess when she returned to the room, then she headed to the hospital to see how Nicole was doing.

* * *

"Haley! Where is she? How's she doing? Is she ok?" Suzanne Finn fired at Haley as she spotted her in the waiting room during her search for her daughter.

"She's in room 206, Molly's in there now. I heard she's stable, but that's all I know," Haley informed her girlfriend's frantic mother. "Her room is right down the hall," Haley pointed.

Suzanne thanked her as she hurried down the hall to room 206.

"Molly, how is she?" the mother demanded the second she stepped into the room.

"She's ok, mom. She's going to be ok," Molly informed her mom in a quiet, relieved voice as she walked over to Suzanne and engulfed her in a hug.

"Oh thank God," Suzanne said as she hugged her oldest daughter.

"She's sleeping now, they gave her something that knocked her out. The doctor should be in soon to tell us what happened. They haven't told me anything yet," Molly said.

Ten minutes later Suzanne was sitting at Nicole's bedside stroking her youngest daughter's hair as she continued to sleep as the doctor entered the room.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Hughes," he announced as the door shut behind him. "Are you Nicole's mother?" he asked.

"Yes, Suzanne Finn. What happened?" she asked, not wasting any time.

"Well, it seems that Nicole overdosed on oxycontin. We pumped her stomach and gave her some pain medication as it appears that she hit her head on the bathroom counter as she passed out. We've been monitoring the head injury and she doesn't appear to have a concussion. She should be just fine in a couple days, but we would like to keep her overnight for observation," he stated.

After a few seconds pause she said, "Ok." Suzanne had in no way been expecting the doctor to tell her that her daughter had been doing drugs.

"Also, when she wakes up we need to perform a psych evaluation to determine if the overdose was intentional or not."

"Intentional?" Suzanne squeaked, "You think she did this on purpose?"

"We don't know, that's what the psych evaluation will help determine," the doctor stated calmly.

"Oh, ok," she said quietly while looking away from Dr. Hughes and focusing on Nicole.

"Well that's all the info I have for now, but nurses will be in and out, and I will be back later to check on her." After stating his intention to return the doctor gave the mother and daughter a reassuring look and left the room.

Immediately following his departure Suzanne broke down into tears. She cried while Molly tried to comfort her. The pair were both shocked to hear that Nicole had been using drugs, but were very thankful that she was going to be ok.

* * *

Haley was sitting in the waiting room reading a book when she saw Molly reemerge from Nicole's hospital room. She jumped up to ask her what the doctor had said, as she had seen him leave the room 10 minutes earlier.

Molly walked up to Haley and without her having to ask, Molly said, "It was drugs," she stared expressionless then continued, "She overdosed."

"What? No way. Did you have any idea she was doing drugs?" Haley asked.

"No, zero idea. I can't believe this," Molly said.

"Is she going to be ok?"

"Yeah, they pumped her stomach, she'll be fine. But she hit her head on the way down when she passed out, so they're keeping her here for the night to make sure it's not serious," she reported.

"Wow, that's terrible. I'm sorry Moll," Haley said as she put her arm around her girlfriend.

* * *

"Nathan, your actions at the rally last week were unacceptable," Principal Turner informed the bored looking teenager sitting in his office. "I am suspending you for the rest of the week and you may not participate in the basketball game this weekend," he said.

This announcement jolted Nathan out of his boredom, "What? You can't do that!" he bellowed. "I AM that team! They'll lose without me!"

"Maybe so, but your behavior has lost you the privilege of participating in school activities for the week. You will not be allowed at practice either."

"This is bull shit!" Nathan exploded. "I'm out of here," he said as he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the office.

"You must leave the school grounds, Mr. Scott!" Principal Turner yelled after him. "And don't come back until Monday!"

* * *

Molly found herself sitting in the chair next to her little sister's hospital bed a few hours after they had found her. She still wasn't awake. Molly was tearing herself up on the inside for not noticing that Nicole was in trouble. She felt partially responsible because recently she had been too absorbed with her new girlfriend and their coming out drama that she hadn't been paying that much attention to Nicole. They had been close growing up, best friends even, but as they both got older they had gotten their own friends and drifted apart somewhat. Molly was now determined to do better, to get to know her sister again.

As she was thinking about everything she heard a faint noise. She turned and saw that Nicole's eyes were open.

"Nikki!" she said affectionately, "You're awake."

"Yeah," Nicole responded, "Uh, what happened? Where are we?" she asked in a weak, scratchy voice as she looked around.

"You overdosed. We're in the hospital," Molly informed her.

After a few second's pause Nicole responded, "Oh. Uh, is Mom here?"

"Yeah, she went to get some coffee," Molly responded. She looked at her sister for a few seconds then said "I'm so glad you're ok, but drugs, Nikki? Really?" She moved closer and looked her in the eye, "You're better than that," she said softly.

Nicole looked down, "I didn't mean to OD," she said. "I had only done it a few times before, I didn't know how powerful they were," she confessed.

"Why were you doing drugs in the first place?" Molly asked.

"I don't know. Mitch got some pills from his mom's medicine cabinet and he asked me if I wanted to do them with him, and with how crappy things have been lately I figured why not," she said with a shrug.

Molly was about to respond when the door opened. She turned and saw her mother walk in.

"You're awake!" Suzanne said as she rushed to her youngest daughter and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're alright, Nikki, but you are in serious trouble!" she informed the young girl.

"I'm going to go talk to Haley, I'll be back in a bit," Molly said before leaving the room so her mom could talk to her sister alone. She walked out and headed to the waiting room where she found her girlfriend working on some homework.

"She's ok, Haley. She just woke up," Molly announced as she approached her.

"That's great," Haley said as she rose to her feet and pulled her girlfriend into a hug. "I'm so glad she's alright."

"Me too."

They released each other, sat down, and Molly went on to explain to Haley how she felt somewhat responsible for what had happened.

"It's just that if I had been paying more attention to her she might not have been doing drugs in the first place."

"Maybe, we can't know for sure though, and all you can do now is be there for her, show her that even though things are a little crazy right now, she still has you," Haley suggested.

"Yeah," Molly paused, "You're right. I'm going to stay at the hotel with them from now on once Nicole gets released."

"Ok, I think that's a good idea," Haley said.

"Thanks for staying with me," Molly said as she leaned her head on Haley's shoulder.

"Of course, Moll. I wouldn't be anywhere else right now."

* * *

Dan Scott walked into his house to see his youngest son sitting in the living room watching TV.

"What are you doing home? Why aren't you at practice?" he demanded of his son.

"Oh, hey dad," Nathan slurred. "Coach said I was so good I didn't need to practice anymore."

"What? That's not true," he said as he walked through the room to stand in front of Nathan.

"Are you drinking?" Dan demanded, when he caught sight of the beer can in his son's hand.

"Not at the moment, pops. Currently I'm holding a beer," he said as he held it up. "Oh, but now," Nathan took a sip, "Oh, it's over, see, right then I was drinking, but now I'm not again."

"Shut up, smart ass," Dan said as he grabbed the beer out of his hand. "What did you do? Get yourself kicked off the team?" Dan asked.

"Nope, I told you, I don't have to practice this week."

"I'm calling Whitey, now get your pathetic drunk ass out of my sight," Dan said as he left the room.

* * *

Molly wasn't at school the next few days. She stayed at the hospital until Nicole was released, then went to the hotel with her and their mom. Nicole was ordered to take it easy for a while, so Suzanne allowed Molly to miss school and the two sisters hung out together, watched movies, ordered room service. They were both enjoying getting to know each other again.

"So what are your friends like?" Molly asked her sister. "You never really brought them around the house much."

"Yeah, we hang at Mitch's house mostly. His mom works nights and his dad lives in Arizona, so we pretty much always have the place to ourselves." Nicole said. "But besides Mitch, there's Elise, Ashlyn, and Carter, the only one you haven't met."

"Is he the skater dude I see you walking around school with all the time?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," Nicole smiled, "He's a really cool guy."

Molly observed her sister's reaction to her question then asked, "You like him, don't you?"

Nicole looked down then said "Yeah, I do. And I'm pretty sure he likes me too, but he's not doing anything about it," she finished with exasperation.

"Well, does he know you're interested?" Molly asked as she rolled over on the bed to have a better view of her sister's face.

"Uh, I don't know," Nicole admitted.

"Ok, then you have to flirt with him, and make it as obvious as you can, because boys are a bit dense, especially 14 year old ones."

"And how would you know how boys are?" Nicole asked with a smirk.

"I don't have to date one to notice how they act," Molly pointed out.

"Fine, I guess you're right," Nicole said. After a few second's pause she asked, "Have you ever kissed a boy?"

"Yeah, once, just wanted to make sure," Molly replied honestly with a shrug.

"Seriously? My lesbian sister has kissed a boy and I haven't?" Nicole said.

Molly chuckled then responded, "Well, technically he kissed me, and you're only 14, there's still time."

Nicole sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

The sisters continued to chat and then enjoyed the pizza that their mom brought with her.

"I'm really glad we're all together right now," Suzanne said to both of her daughters during dinner.

"Me too, mom."

* * *

"Suspended!" Dan roared as he slammed Nathan's bedroom door open. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing, dad. It's not my fault Turner overreacted."

"He said you made a scene at the rally and humiliated the soccer team!"

"Not the whole team, dad, just their dyke of a captain. And the school needed to know that she and her girlfriend are disgusting, perverted, dykes," he said calmly.

"What?" Dan asked, confused. "What are you talking about? What does this have to do with you?"

"Nothing, it's done, and I'll be back on the team next week, it's not a huge deal."

"Oh yes it is! You're missing a game, Nathan! And now you have a suspension on your record, what school is going to want you now?" he bellowed.

"Dad, don't worry about it. I'm good enough that schools will just ignore it," Nathan said smugly.

"Well, you better hope that's the case," Dan snarled. "And you're working out extra hard all week to make up for what you're missing," he informed his son.

"Whatever, dad."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: MMMBop (couldn't think of a title, so that's what you get)

After missing a week and a half of school, Nicole was ready to return, mostly because it's the only place she's allowed to go besides the hotel. Her mom had grounded her for a month because of the drugs, which she was fine with, considering she almost died. But she was definitely ready to get out of that hotel room, although she was also a bit nervous to go back to school because Molly had told her that she had heard rumors circulating about Nicole's absence from school. Most of them got the majority of the facts right, but some people were saying that they heard she tried to kill herself. Nicole wasn't sure how she was going to face everyone, but Molly was there for her and they walked onto the campus hand in hand on her first day back.

"You alright?" Molly asked her sister as they walked through the hall on the way to Nicole's locker.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's kind of weird having everyone staring at me though."

"Yeah, don't worry though, it'll die down. Same thing happened to Haley and me after Nathan outed us," Molly informed Nicole. "Something else will come along and capture the attention of the masses eventually."

"I hope it's soon," Nicole said as she walked past a group of girls who were clearly talking about her, the super subtle pointing only slightly gave them away.

As Nicole was getting the books she needed out of her locker Carter approached the two sisters.

"Hey, I'm glad you're back," Carter announced as he stood there awkwardly.

"Thanks, I'm just stoked to be out of that hotel room. Thanks again for coming by last week. It was really cool to see you," she said with a slight smile.

He replied "Yeah, of course. Had to make sure you were ok, and I missed you."

His statement was followed by a few seconds of awkward silence, which Molly destroyed.

"Alright, then. Uh, Nikki, I'm going to get to class, but I'll find you at lunch, ok?"

"Yeah, thanks Molly. See you later."

"Later, Nik," Molly said as she breezed past the pair, trying not to laugh at their awkward exchange.

* * *

"Hey babe," Molly said to Haley as she dropped her bag to the ground and took a seat at the lunch table next to her girlfriend.

"Hey, how was Nicole this morning?"

"She was alright, a little nervous. Carter found us in the hall before class and took over for me, so that was good."

"Yeah. Oh, there they are," Haley said as she stood up, yelled Nicole's name, and waved the pair over to their table.

"Hey Nicole, it's good to see you," Haley said as she hugged the younger girl. "Sit, join us," she beckoned and the pair obeyed.

"Thanks," she said as she took a seat across from her sister and next to Carter.

The four teenagers made conversation, enjoying themselves while ignoring the gawkers trying to get a look at the girl who had OD'd. As Molly was telling a story about how Nicole used to eat toothpaste when she was little, Nathan approached the table. Since he got back to school after his suspension, he's been making a lot of snide comments to, and in front of, Molly and Haley every chance he gets.

"Ah, look here!" Nathan announced with a smirk on his face. "It's the lesbians and the drug addict sister! I wonder what kind of terrible people your parents are to have gotten stuck with two such messed up kids. It's sad, really," he said.

"Go away Nathan," Haley growled in a low voice.

"Nah, I'm just getting started, lesbo," he said to Haley, then turned his attention to Carter. "So what's your issue?" he asked. "To be sitting with this bunch of misfits there must be something wrong with you too. So what? You a murderer? Arsonist? Canadian?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Fuck off, man," Carter said somewhat timidly.

Nathan laughed, "What was that, freshman?" he asked as he moved closer to Carter.

"Nathan! Leave!" Haley yelled, just as Lucas eyed the scene from across the quad.

Luke ran up to his brother just in time and gave him a slight push to get him away from Carter.

"Back off, man," Luke said.

"Get the fuck off me!" Nathan yelled.

Luke stepped back and put his hands up to show that he didn't want to fight. The two brothers both paused and just looked at each other. "Just go, Nathan," Luke said after a few seconds. "You're not welcome here anymore."

The two continued staring each other down, then Nathan finally took a step back, shook his head and walked away.

"You guys alright?" Luke asked the table after his brother's departure.

"Fine, thanks Luke," Haley answered.

"No problem, I've got to go find Brooke, but I'll see you around," he said as he left with a small wave.

"Well that was fun," Nicole stated, sarcastically.

"Yeah, seems like Nathan's favorite activity is taunting us now," Molly said with a sigh. "I actually feel sorry for him though, he's a narrow minded asshole with no friends. It's his own fault though."

"Yeah, it's too bad really," Haley agreed.

* * *

After lunch that day Molly was sitting in her English class, kind of paying attention, kind of not, when the secretary from the front office stuck her head in the classroom door. "Uh, excuse me, Mrs. Fields, Principal Turner would like to see Molly Finn in his office for a few minutes," she announced.

Mrs. Fields turned to look at Molly and nodded her approval. Molly gathered up her stuff, just in case it was more than a few minutes, and left the room.

Once she got to Principal Turner's office Molly knocked on the door, and a few seconds later she entered at his direction.

"Hi, Principal Turner, you wanted to see me?" Molly said.

"Yes, please come in, Miss Finn, sit down," he said.

Molly did as she was told and waited for him to tell her why she was there.

"So I called you here because I just wanted to check in and see how things have been since Nathan Scott's little outburst at the rally a few weeks ago," he began. "I expect you have had to endure some harassment, as homosexuality is quite a controversial topic, especially in the south."

"Uh, yeah, some people have been making comments to me and Haley," Molly said shortly, as she was not quite sure where he was going with this yet.

"Well I'd like to make this school more tolerant, and a place where everyone can feel safe and be their self," he proclaimed. "We are going to put out an official anti-bullying policy within the next few weeks."

"That's great, Principal Turner," Molly said, "How can I help though?"

"Well you can start by telling me about the incident in Mr. Donahue's class a few weeks ago. Katie Torres reported it to me after it happened, and I'm sorry I haven't done anything about it until now."

"Oh, ok, umm, well Derek Riley was taunting me throughout the whole period, saying horrible homophobic things, and a few of the comments were definitely loud enough for Mr. Donahue to hear, but he didn't do anything about it. So after Derek made another offensive remark I stood up and asked Mr. Donahue if he really wasn't going to do anything, and he claimed not to know what I was talking about, so I stormed out. Then Katie followed me a minute later," she recounted.

"Alright. Thank you, Molly. I will deal with Derek and Mr. Donahue. This kind of behavior is not acceptable, especially from an educator."

"Yeah, Nathan Scott has been the worst though," Molly admitted.

"Ah, yes, I suspended him for the rally, but it doesn't seem like that made much of an impact. I'll keep an eye on him," he promised.

"Thanks," Molly replied.

"Alright. So how is your sister doing?" Principal Turner then asked.

"She's doing much better, first day back at school today," she said.

"That's good. I'm glad to hear it," he said. "Well, I think we're about done here. Please feel free to come to me if the harassment continues or increases," he stated.

"Ok, I will, thank you Principal Turner."

"Of course," he said with a reassuring smile.

* * *

The next day after school Haley was sitting at the desk in her room working on a math assignment when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in!" she called.

"Hey, Hales," Lucas said. "I knocked this time just in case Molly was over, we don't need a repeat of last time," he said with a slight smirk.

"Ha ha," Haley said dryly, "but yeah, we don't. Knocking is good," she added as she dropped her pencil and spun around to face Lucas as he sat on her bed.

"So where is the girlfriend today?" he asked, curious.

"Mandatory team bonding event. They're going to a movie then getting pizza."

"Ah, nice," Lucas responded. "Got to love the mandatory bonding."

"Yeah, so why aren't you hanging out with Brooke?"

"I missed my best friend," he paused, then added, "And she's out shopping. Apparently all her old clothes remind her of Peyton so it makes her sad to wear them. She's working on acquiring a whole new wardrobe."

"Ah, yeah, Peyton doesn't seem too keen on working things out with Brooke at the moment," Haley said.

"Ahhhhhh," Lucas moaned and put his head in his hands. "I hate that I'm the reason they're not friends anymore."

"Well, Brooke had a hand in it too, but yeah, you did screw that up pretty nicely."

"Halesssss," Lucas whined, "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know, you're just a horny bastard who fell for the wrong girl."

"I don't think she is the wrong girl though," Luke said seriously. "I mean, yeah, at first I was more into Peyton, we have a lot in common and similar personalities, but I think I need someone who's completely different than I am, and Brooke definitely is. She's fun, bubbly, adventurous, unpredictable, Hales, I really like her," he confessed.

"That's great Luke. I'm glad it's working out for you guys, but Peyton still got hurt in the process."

"I know. I really hope they can work it out, but I don't know what I can do to help."

"Nothing really, just encourage Brooke to keep trying to get through to Peyton, because that girl is too stubborn for her own good sometimes," Haley said.

"Yeah, but Brooke's pretty stubborn too, so I don't think she'll be giving up anytime soon."

"Good."

"Yeah, so enough about my drama, let's move on to yours. How's Nicole doing?"

"Much better, she's fully recovered from the overdose and her head is fine from the fall. School has been a bit rough on her though."

"That's too bad. Most of the people at our school suck, unfortunately. How's Molly been taking it all?"

"She feels partially responsible for the OD, thinks that if she had been paying more attention to Nicole it wouldn't have happened. So now she's making an effort to be there for Nicole more, which is good."

"Yeah, that is good. Maybe if someone besides Dan had been there for Nathan while he was growing up he wouldn't be such a dick."

"Maybe," Haley said, as she looked off into the distance.

"Oh," Luke said, "Sorry to bring him up, it just sucks though, losing a brother I only really started being brothers with a year ago."

"You can bring him up to me anytime, I know this must be hard for you," she paused, then continued "I'd like to thank you for sticking up for me and Molly to him. You didn't have to do that, because after all, he still is your brother," Haley pointed out.

Luke shook his head, "No, blood doesn't mean that much to me, the type of person you are is what matters, and I don't like the person he has become. You are my best friend and I'll always be there for you," he said as he rose from the bed and walked toward her, "no matter what." Haley wiped away a tear as he pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks, Luke," she whispered.

* * *

Early Saturday morning Haley was sitting at the kitchen counter in her house drinking orange juice and eating cereal.

"You're up early," her mom, Lydia, stated as she entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, Molly has a big game at 10 in Hayden, takes almost 2 hours to get there."

"That's nice of you to go all that way to watch her play," Lydia said.

"I love watching her play. She's really good. I should get going though," Haley said as she stood up and took her empty bowl and glass to the sink. "I'm picking Nicole up on the way, she wasn't ready to go when Molly had to leave this morning."

"Alright, well have fun."

"Later, mom."

"Watch out for bad drivers!" Lydia yelled after her daughter as the door to the garage was closing, which was her perpetual advice as any of her children left the house.

* * *

Nicole was waiting in the hotel parking lot when Haley drove up ten minutes later.

"Hey, Nicole, how ya doing this morning?" Haley asked the younger girl as she got in the passenger seat of Haley's car.

"Doing alright," she replied. "Thanks for picking me up, had a little trouble getting up this morning."

"No problem, and it'll be nice to have a travel companion for the two hour drive."

The two girls chatted throughout the drive. About an hour in they stopped at a gas station and got snacks to eat in the car and during the game. Haley and Nicole had not spent much time alone together before the car ride, and they were both happy to discover that they got along easily and both enjoyed each other's company.

They pulled into the parking lot of the park where the soccer game would take place with 10 minutes to kick off.

"Perfect timing," Haley commented as they grabbed their stuff and exited the vehicle. They found a spot to sit on Tree Hill's sideline and waited for the game to begin.

As the first half was about to wrap up Nicole commented, "She's doing really well today."

"Yeah, she's all over the place, playing really hard," Haley agreed.

The game was still scoreless as the referee blew the whistle to end the first half a few minutes later.

The second half started with a bang, three minutes in Molly was charging down the field while Andrea, the right midfielder, dribbled the ball. Molly, playing center midfield, managed to get open and Andrea passed it to her. Molly got by a defender and then passed it up to the left forward, Stacy, who was near the 18-yard line. She collected the ball with a soft touch and then blasted it at the goal. The opposing team's goalkeeper was not able to get in front of the shot and it sailed into the the right side of the net.

The Tree Hill Ravens erupted into celebration. Meanwhile Nicole was yelling her head off on the sidelines as Haley was clapping, and laughing at her girlfriend's sister's enthusiasm.

The rest of the half was played tough by both sides with no subsequent goals being scored. The Ravens celebrated as the referee blew the whistle to end the game. The team was extra stoked as this victory meant they were now in first place in their league.

After the post game coach's talk the girls dispersed and Molly joined Haley and Nicole where they were still sitting on the side of the field.

"Hey, awesome game, Moll," Haley said with a smile as Molly sat down to rest.

"Yeah, you played great," Nicole agreed.

Right as Molly was about to respond she was cut off by someone speaking behind her.

"I'd have to agree with them," came the deep voice. "You played really well."

Molly turned around to face the speaker.

"Dad?" she asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to watch you play. The schedule is posted online," he said with his hands in his pockets, and not making eye contact.

"Well you're not welcome here, _dad_," Nicole spat at him.

"Yeah, you should leave," Molly said softly, once she got over the shock of seeing him.

"I, umm… I," Mark stuttered. "Ok," he said in defeat and walked away.

The three girls watched him walk away, then Nicole said, "What the hell? Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Molly said quickly. "Let's just get out of here."

"Ok," Haley said as she stood and started gathering up her stuff. "I remember seeing a Chili's on the highway about 20 minutes from here, want to meet there for lunch?" she asked the sisters.

"Sure, I'll follow you," Molly said as she headed toward her car, deep in thought.

* * *

"Moll, you alright?" Nicole asked her sister once they had gotten in the car and started driving to the restaurant.

After a ten second pause Molly responded, "I don't know. It was weird to see him." She kept looking straight ahead as she continued. "Do you think he wanted to take it all back?"

"I don't know, maybe. He seemed really different," Nicole pointed out.

"Yeah," Molly agreed, "Broken, kind of. I've never seen him like that before."

"Me neither. What would you say to him if he apologized and wanted to be in your life again?" Nicole enquired.

"I really don't know. I'm not sure if I could ever forgive him for so easily throwing me out of the house, and his life," Molly admitted.

"Yeah, I don't know if I would be able to if I was in your place," Nicole said.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Getting Closer

When the three girls met at the restaurant after the soccer game, Haley asked Molly if she was ok. Molly said that she was fine and Haley could tell that she really didn't want to talk about her father right then, so she let it go for the time being. She had learned quickly that Molly sometimes needed time to herself to analyze a situation and figure out what she was thinking on her own first, and that she would come to her when she wanted to talk about it.

They had a quick lunch as the restaurant was pretty much empty, then got back on the road. They followed the same highway back to Tree Hill, but once they hit the city limits the two cars headed in different directions, Haley heading home, Molly and Nicole back to the hotel.

They were meeting their mom at the hotel then going with her to look at a potential house that she had found. They had looked at one house and an apartment already, but neither of those had felt right to the three of them. They also had an appointment to tour another house the next day as well, so hopefully they would find something they liked soon. Suzanne had realized that getting her daughters back into a real house and reacquiring a semblance of normalcy would be good for them. What with Molly's coming out disaster and Nicole's overdose, things had been a bit chaotic for the family as of late.

The mom and daughters drove together to the small three bedroom house. It was in a good location, ten minutes from the high school and fifteen from Suzanne's work. The street had a cozy feel to it, lined with huge trees and cute houses.

"It's nice," Molly stated as they walked through the white, empty rooms.

"Yeah, I think we could possibly make this work," Suzanne replied. "What do you think, Nicole?"

"I like it," she said as she spun around, examining the place from every angle.

"We'd get our own rooms, too, which would be awesome," Molly added.

"Yeah, and it's in my price range," Suzanne said, "Just barely, but I can make it work."

After walking through the house a bit more and inspecting the backyard, the three came to a consensus that they really liked the house, but it would still be a good idea to check out the other one they had an appointment to see the next day, just in case.

So the next day they headed out bright and early for their 8:00 appointment to tour that house, and it was a nice house as well, but they all agreed that they liked the one from the day before better. Suzanne called the realtor right after leaving the house and set up a meeting to make an offer on the other one.

A few days later the Finn's offer had been accepted and the house entered into a 30 day escrow. Although another month at the hotel seemed daunting to the two teenage girls who have been missing their privacy, they were at least happy to know there was an end in sight and that they would be moving into a new house soon.

* * *

"Sounds awesome," Haley said as Molly was telling her about the new house. "Can't wait to see it."

"I can't wait to move in. I love my mom and sister, but sharing a room with them for over two months now is starting to wear on my sanity," she ended dramatically.

"Eh, sanity's overrated," Haley said then quickly changed the topic, "Hey, have you told your mom about seeing your dad at the soccer game?"

"No, not yet. Not sure if I'm going to though," Molly said. "I mean, him showing up there probably means he wants to make peace, right? Well I'm still trying to figure out if I could ever forgive him. And I didn't want to bother my mom about it yet until I figure out what I'm thinking."

"Well she might be able to help you figure it out," Haley pointed out. "You don't always have to tackle everything on your own."

"I know, I just," she paused, "It's complicated."

"Alright, well you know how to find me if you want to talk about it."

"I do," Molly agreed. "Thanks."

* * *

Brooke pulled up to Peyton's house after school on Thursday of that week. She was determined to talk to Peyton, to get her to listen to her. Brooke jumped out of her car, slammed her car door shut, and strutted up to Peyton's door. She knocked on it with authority and waited. No answer. She waited a minute, knocked again and rang the doorbell. Still no answer.

When Peyton heard someone at the door she looked out her upstairs bedroom window to see Brooke's car at the curb, so she dropped the curtain, sat back down at her computer and ignored her former best friend trying to knock the door down, which Peyton had started locking just in case this situation was to arise.

"I know you're in there Peyton! I'm standing 10 feet from your car! Please just talk to me!" Brooke begged at the top of her lungs.

"No thanks," Peyton said to herself as she continued to ignore Brooke.

"I'm not going to give up! You will talk to me, whether it's now or before you leave for school tomorrow, doesn't really matter. I brought supplies! I'll stay out here all night!" Brooke bellowed.

Peyton scoffed to herself, not believing the brunette and went back to her work. An hour later after the noise had subsided Peyton had half forgotten about Brooke as she went downstairs to get a snack.

She passed the front door and noticed something bright red out of the corner of her eye. She went back and looked through the window to get a better look. Brooke had pitched a small two person tent (which is really only big enough for one person by the way) on Peyton's front lawn.

Peyton turned the deadbolt and swung the door open. "Brooke Penelope Davis, what the hell are you doing?" she bellowed while placing a hand on her hip waiting for an explanation.

Brooke popped her head out of the tent with a victorious look on her face which quickly turned serious. "Showing you how sorry I am and how much our friendship means to me," she said. "I'm so sorry about how things went down with Lucas. We shouldn't have snuck around behind your back, but I think it's actually turning into something real."

Peyton rolled her eyes at this statement and started to head back inside.

"Wait, I'm serious Peyt, I didn't go after him on purpose. At first, we were both drunk, but now, I mean, he really gets me and it just feels right when we're together, but I've realized that none of it matters if I don't have you by my side. You've been my best friend since we were eight," Brooke pointed out as she walked up the lawn and closer to Peyton. "I'll break up with him and never talk to him again if it means you'll forgive me," Brooke stated with all the sincerity she had.

Peyton looked away for a second, then back at the girl in front of her. "Brooke, I… umm," she stumbled on her words for a few seconds while she thought about all the good times they had had together, and about how Brooke doesn't always think her actions through beforehand to see if anyone would be hurt by them, and that despite that she never purposely means to hurt anyone. Peyton then said "No." Brooke's face fell. Then Peyton quickly added "You don't have to do that. It sounds like you really like him. I've never heard you talk about a guy like this before, and I know that you didn't hurt me on purpose. I was just being selfish and childish. I'm sorry," she finished with tears in her eyes.

"No Peyt, I'm sorry," Brooke said as she got rid of the distance between them and pulled her into a hug which Peyton reciprocated. After a minute long embrace the girls parted and Brooke asked, "Are we ok?"

"As long as you take that eye sore of a tent down within the next ten minutes and bring all your stuff into the house, then yeah, we're good," Peyton said with a slight smile.

"I can do that," Brooke said with a huge grin breaking out.

"Whose tent is this, anyway?" Peyton asked as she helped with its removal.

"My dad's I think, I found it in the garage."

"I can't believe you were going to sleep in this tiny thing."

"Yeah, and you know how much I hate camping, but I had to prove my deep felt sorrow and never ending love for you," Brooke declared dramatically.

Peyton chuckled then said, "Right, well it was a sweet, although slightly weird, gesture."

"That's how I roll," Brooke replied, "Now grab the chips and let's go make cookies."

"You got it, Brooke," Peyton said as she followed her best friend into the house with a smile.

* * *

At school on Friday Haley and Molly were walking together in the hallway in between classes. "You ready for the game this weekend?" Haley asked casually.

"Yeah, of course. We're playing Riverdale, we're going to crush them," Molly responded with a smirk.

"Well that's good, but I was really asking if you're ready to possibly see your dad again," Haley clarified.

Molly whipped her head to the right to look at her girlfriend. "You think he's going to show up again?" she asked with a touch of worry in her voice, making it obvious that the thought hadn't crossed her mind.

"Well he was there last week, and I don't think he accomplished what he had hoped to, so he'll probably try again, once he gets up the nerve."

Molly took this in without responding.

"But maybe I'm wrong, maybe he'll take a different approach next time. I'm just saying that I think you need to be ready in case he decides to pop up again," Haley advised.

"Yeah, ok."

* * *

Later that day at lunch Molly was the first to the table. She was still lost in her thoughts about her dad when Haley, Peyton, and Brooke walked up joking with each other and whatnot.

"Hey Moll," Haley said, kissed her girlfriend on the cheek, then sat next to her.

"Hey," Molly replied, eyeing the other two girls as they sat down next to each other at the table as well.

"Guess who made up?" Haley asked.

"If I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes I would have guessed Britney and K-Fed, but I'm going to bet you mean these two," Molly said while motioning toward Peyton and Brooke.

"Yep," Haley said with a slight chuckle.

"Well, cool. Good for you guys," Molly said to the newly reunited best friends.

"Thanks, about time, right?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, I knew you guys would work it out though," Haley added.

"Yes, well to celebrate, and just to get everyone all together again, party at my house tomorrow night," Brooke announced cheerfully.

"Awesome," Haley said.

"Yeah, sounds good," Molly agreed.

* * *

Meanwhile, past the quad and on the other side of the school, Carter and Nicole were sitting against the science building eating their lunches. They were chatting casually enjoying each other's company when Nicole asked Carter, "So uh, I'm going to Molly's soccer game tomorrow, do you maybe want to come and watch with me?"

"Uh, yeah, that sounds cool," Carter said. "What time does it start?" he asked.

"Two o' clock," Nicole informed him. "Meet me there a little before that,"

"Yeah, ok. I'll do that," he said happily, stoked that she asked him to go.

"I would say that we should go somewhere together after, but I'm still grounded for another week because of the incident. I'm just glad my mom made an exception for Molly's games."

"Yeah, that's good," Carter said. "Uh, maybe after you're ungrounded, uh," he stumbled, "maybe we could do something then?" He looked up expectantly at Nicole.

She smiled, "Yeah, that would be awesome."

"Cool," Carter responded, looking quite relieved with a smile on his face as well.

* * *

Haley showed up to the soccer field the next day at half past one, found a spot on the sidelines, and watched the Ravens run through their warm up drills. After about fifteen minutes she spotted Nicole and Carter walking her way.

"Hey Haley," Nicole said, "Mind if we join you?"

"Not at all, take a seat," she said with a smile.

"Cool. So this should be a good game," Nicole stated. "The Riverdale Eagles are second in the league right now, they're pretty tough."

"Really? Haley asked. "Cuz Molly said we were going to crush them, made it sound like they weren't that good."

"That's just her never dying competitiveness talking. She always thinks her teams are going to crush their opponent, which I guess isn't the worst attitude to have. Better that than thinking you're going to lose," Nicole stated.

"Yeah, I guess so," Haley said with a small laugh.

"Are we still in first?" Carter asked, changing the subject slightly.

"Yeah, still in first," Nicole confirmed.

"Cool."

The game started a few minutes later. While watching the game Haley couldn't help but notice the shy looks that Nicole and Carter kept shooting each other. She thought it was cute and figured it was just a matter of time before the pair got together.

The Ravens and the Eagles both battled hard throughout the entire game, and two 45-minute halves later it came to a conclusion with a score of 2-1. The Ravens had managed to squeak out a win in the last ten minutes with a beautiful goal from left forward Alex Blender. She had taken a powerful left footed shot from just inside the 18 yard line which soared into the net just out of the goalkeeper's reach. Molly had played a solid game in the midfield and was proud of her team, they have really been performing well recently.

Molly's cheering section congratulated her after the game, saying she had played well and whatnot. Then Molly and Nicole headed to the hotel, and Haley and Carter both departed for their respective homes, after an awkward good bye between Nicole and Carter, of course. The two juniors had made plans for Molly to pick Haley up from her house at 6:15 so they could get to Brooke's house a little early to hang out and help get things set up before everyone was set to arrive at seven for the party.

* * *

"You look hot, babe," Molly commented as she maneuvered her motorized vehicle through the Tree Hill streets from Haley's house to Brooke's.

"Thanks," Haley said with a slight blush. She said "You too," while taking a closer look at her girlfriend, noticing the red shirt she was wearing, then said, "Hey, is that my shirt?"

Molly laughed then said "Yeah, I wondered when you were going to notice. Did you even know it was gone?" Molly asked.

"Umm, no," Haley admitted. "It looks good on you, but what prompted your criminal act of thievery?"

"Thievery? Honey, we're girlfriends with a similar style and we're the same size, why would I not borrow your clothes?"

Haley smiled then said, "Alright, I guess my wardrobe just doubled then."

"Indeed it did, babe." After a few seconds of silence Molly changed the topic by asking, "So have Lucas and Peyton made up as well? Or do you not know?"

"He told me they spoke once at school after she and Brooke made up. He said it was slightly awkward, but that she seemed ok."

"That's good."

"Yeah, Luke's a good guy. He didn't mean to get in the middle of Brooke and Peyton, it just kind of happened."

"Yeah, that was too bad. I wouldn't mind getting in the middle of Brooke and Peyton though," Molly said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Haley exclaimed while smacking Molly lightly on the shoulder.

"What?" Molly asked. "They're hot. Don't try to deny it."

"Well," Haley said then paused, "Yeah, you're right. They both are pretty hot."

"Told you," Molly said as she pulled the car over and parked next to the curb in front of Brooke's house.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Fun and Desperation

Molly and Haley exit the car and make their way up to Brooke's front door. After knocking to announce their presence the door was opened a minute later and they were ushered in by Brooke.

"Hey guys, come on in. I'm just finishing getting ready upstairs, if you could help Peyton in the kitchen with the snacks that would be great," Brooke said in a rush as she bounced back up the stairs.

"We're on it, Brooke," Haley said with a chuckle as she grabbed Molly's arm and pulled her toward the kitchen.

"Hey Peyton," Molly greeted the blonde. "We've been given orders to help you," she informed her.

"Sounds like Brooke. One of you can empty the chips into the bowls and the other can put those beers and sodas on ice."

"Sure, dude," Haley said as the pair got to work.

"So how'd the soccer game go?" Peyton inquired.

"Excellent, we won 2-1," Molly said with a smile.

"Nice," Peyton remarked.

"Yeah, they played really well, but watching Nicole and Carter interact was just as interesting though," Haley said.

"Aren't they adorable together?" Molly asked. "Nicole told me that he kind of asked her out."

"What does that mean?" Peyton asked.

"Well she's still grounded, so he asked if she maybe wanted to do something when she wasn't grounded anymore. She couldn't stop smiling when she told me."

"Ah, that's cute."

"Yeah, good for them."

Brooke came downstairs fifteen minutes later after the three had finished setting everything up. They sat around talking and waited for people to start arriving, which they definitely did, and by 8:00 the house was filled with rowdy teenagers just looking to have a good time.

* * *

"Hey babe," Luke said as he approached his girlfriend from behind and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Boyfriend! I'm glad you're here, even if you are an hour late," Brooke said.

"Yeah, sorry, Amber called in sick to the café today so we were understaffed. Mom needed me to stay a bit longer," be explained.

"Alright, you're forgiven. Just make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.

"Well that's kind of up to Amber's immune system, not me," he quipped.

"Luke," Brooke warned. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah, I was just kidding."

Just then Peyton walked up to the pair. She needed to ask Brooke something, and after spotting them in the kitchen she convinced herself to suck it up and go talk to them.

"Brooke, are there anymore plastic cups?" she asked her friend then turned and faced Luke and said, "Hey Luke."

After he nodded in recognition of her greeting and said "hey" back Peyton promptly turned back to Brooke and added, "Steve and Tim used up the last of the stack for beer pong, and some people still need one to actually get a drink."

"That definitely sounds like them. Yeah, they're on the ground in the pantry," Brooke informed her.

"Thanks, I'll see you two later," she said then headed off for the pantry.

* * *

"Carissa! You actually came!" Molly yelled in delight as she charged her best friend and pulled her into a hug. Haley laughed at her girlfriend's enthusiasm.

"Woah there, child, had a few drinks already, have you?" Carissa asked as she parted from the overzealous embrace.

"Just a couple, hey Justin," Molly greeted the boyfriend. "Come on, let's get you guys drinks and go outside," Molly said as she grabbed Carissa's hand and led the way.

The four accomplished the task then went and sat around the patio table that was in the backyard. They engaged in friendly conversation as they caught up with each other's lives. Molly and Carissa hadn't spent that much time together recently, as they have both been pretty busy with their significant others, school work, and whatnot.

"So when are you guys moving into the house?" Carissa inquired of her best friend.

"Next Saturday, be at my old house by 10am sharp to help," Molly answered.

"Oh, so you're giving me orders now?" Carissa asked with a raised brow.

"Yep, you're helping, get over it," Molly said.

"Alright, fine, but you're buying me lunch and dinner for compensation," Carissa countered.

"Oh dinner too?"

"Yep, deal with it."

Molly laughed then agreed.

* * *

A couple hours later when the party was winding down Haley and Molly said their good byes and headed for their car.

"I'm driving babe, passenger side for you," Haley informed her girlfriend as she grabbed the keys and headed to the driver's side.

Molly climbed in the car and closed her eyes. "Am I still that drunk, cuz I just feel really tired now," Molly slurred.

"Yes, babe, you're still really drunk. Not feeling sick, are you?" Haley asked.

"Nope, just tired."

"Alright, let's get you home then, and you're staying at mine now because you picked me up, and I don't want to have to deal with getting your car back to you tomorrow, so call your mom and let her know," Haley said.

"Can you call her for me? She'll know I'm drunk if I do it," Molly reasoned.

"Yeah, sure." Haley digs her phone out of her jacket pocket and dials Mrs. Finn's cell phone. After four rings Suzanne picks it up.

"Hi, Mrs. Finn, this is Haley, umm, Molly's not feeling too well tonight, so we were wondering if it'd be ok if she stayed at my place," she said as sweetly as possible.

"Not feeling well, huh?" Suzanne says with a bit of skepticism in her voice, "Yeah, that's ok, just tell her to be at the house by 9, we only have a 4 hour window of when Mark won't be there to start packing," she informed her daughter's girlfriend.

"Ok, Mrs. Finn, I'll tell her," Haley assured the older woman.

"Alright, thanks Haley, take care of her."

"I will, good night."

"Good night."

After hanging up Haley relayed the message from her mom to Molly which coincided with their arrival at Haley's house. Haley helped Molly into her house and they made it up to Haley's room without disturbing anyone. The soccer player was asleep within thirty seconds of hitting the bed, and Haley followed shortly after.

* * *

"Well that was a pretty successful party I'd have to say," Brooke announced to Peyton as she collapsed onto the couch. They were the only two left in the house.

"I'd have to agree, especially since we're still friends," Peyton remarked.

Brooke gave her a look then said, "Yeah, indeed we are."

"That Carissa girl, Molly's best friend, is pretty cool, did you hang out with her at all? Or were you too busy climbing all over your boyfriend in the kitchen?" Peyton asked in good humor.

"Oh come on, I was not climbing all over him," Brooke defended, "And yes, I did get to talk to her a bit, she is pretty cool."

"Yeah, we should start inviting her to all the parties, even if Haley and Molly can't come."

"Sure," Brooke agreed as she yawned.

"Alright, come on Brookie Monster, let's go to bed," Peyton said as she stood and dragged her best friend up the stairs and into her bedroom.

* * *

For Nathan Scott Sunday morning began with a loud pounding on his door at 6am.

"Get up! You're going for a run!" Dan bellowed as he banged on his son's bedroom door.

After realizing what was going on Nathan groaned and rolled out of bed, knowing it was much easier to do what his father said than to deal with the consequences of disagreeing.

Fifteen minutes later Nathan was on the sidewalk of his neighborhood starting his run. Dan had demanded that he go for two hours, and if he didn't look tired enough when he got back to have just completed a two hour run he was going back out. So Nathan did as he was told.

When he got back from his two hour run Dan looked him over and said, "Good, now get to the gym. Two hours at least."

"Yes sir," Nathan said as he downed a bottle of water.

His dad had been relentless ever since he had gotten suspended and missed a game. Since then his weekends have consisted of exhausting workout sessions followed by monitored homework sessions. Nathan's grades had definitely slipped since he stopped attending tutoring sessions with Haley. He had been assigned a new tutor, but never went to see him. And now he was paying for it all. He had barely any free time anymore, not that it mattered though because he didn't have any friends anymore, but he was getting worn out. His dad was pushing him past his limit and Nathan was exhausted.

When he got to the gym a little while later instead of going right in and getting to work he sat on a bench just outside the entrance. He sat there, resting, thinking, and drinking the Gatorade he had just bought. His mind then returned to his encounter with a certain ethically questionable physical therapist, Jesse Phillips. He realized that if he was going to be able to keep up with this rigorous training schedule for much longer he was going to need a little help. He dug through his wallet until he found the business card he was looking for. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in the numbers that were printed on the card. After three rings a voice answered with "Hello?"

Nathan paused for a second then said, "Uh, hi, umm, this is Nathan Scott."

"Ah, Nathan, I'm pleased to hear from you, didn't think I was going to since it's been over a month."

"Yeah, well, things have changed and I need a little extra boost to get to the level I need to be performing at," Nathan explained.

"Alright, I can help you out with that. Give me a day to get the stuff and meet me in the parking lot at the gym Tuesday night, say 7:00?"

"Sure, sounds good. Thank you."

"Oh, and Nathan, bring $300."

"Oh, uh, ok, I can do that," Nathan replied.

"It won't always be that expensive, I just have to get you all the supplies that you'll need to start. It will probably be around $150 to $200 for a regular batch, depending on the dosage you'll need, but we'll figure that out soon enough," Jesse explained.

"Ok, uh, I'll see you Tuesday then."

"Yes you will."

* * *

The next day at school Molly was thinking about how lucky she was that she didn't get in trouble for drinking and staying out all night as she walked to her car. Soccer practice had just ended and she was looking forward to taking a shower and relaxing once she got back to the hotel. She figures her mom had an idea of why she didn't make it home Saturday night, and was grateful that she had let it go. Just as she was unlocking her car door in the otherwise deserted parking lot, she heard her name called. She turned to see who it was.

"Molly, can I talk to you?" the voice asked, almost apologetically.

"Dad?" she asked. "What, uh, what do you want?" Panic overtook her body, she didn't know if she wanted to talk to him, or what she would say to him.

"I just want to talk to you, sweetie," he said softly.

"Don't call me that," she snapped.

"Moll, I was wrong," he said as he walked closer to her. "I, I'm," he stumbled as he looked down at his feet, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you."

"Yeah, well so am I," Molly said softly. "But I can't talk to you right now, I have to go," she continued as she opened her car door and jumped inside. She took one last look at her father's face as she drove away, and all she could see on it was regret.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Moving Day and A First Date

"Alright, I'm here," Carissa announced as she walked in the Finn residence at 10:15 on Saturday morning.

"And only fifteen minutes late, I'm impressed," Molly said as she set a box on the counter and grabbed the muffin out of her best friend's hand.

"Hey, that's mine," Carissa argued.

"Not anymore, it's your punishment for being late," Molly informed her, "Now get your ass up to my room and start bringing boxes down. Gracias," she finished then flashed her best friend a cheesy smile to show she appreciated her being there.

Carissa grumbled as she dropped her bag on the counter and made her way to the stairs. Just then Haley appeared at the top of the stairs with a giant box. She had it propped on the railing as she took careful, slow steps down the stairs.

"So the slave driver's got you working too?" Carissa asked the cheerleader.

"Yup," she replied. "And I don't know what she has in here, this box is ridiculous," Haley mumbled.

"Here, let me help before you drop it," Carissa said as she hurried up the stairs and grabbed the corners closest to her.

"Thanks, dude," Haley said as the two of them were able to easily maneuver the box down the stairs together.

"Oh, hi Carissa, you made it," Suzanne said as she passed the two girls on their way out the front door.

"Sure did, Mrs. Finn, didn't really have a choice though," Carissa said with a smirk.

Suzanne laughed. "Yeah, well it's nice to see you again anyway."

"You too, Mrs. Finn, can't wait to see the new house."

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we keep walking?" Haley pleaded, "This box is super heavy."

"Of course, sorry girls," Suzanne said and went off to grab another box of her own.

Carter was there helping them move as well, and with the combined efforts of six people they were able to empty the house of all the stuff the female Finns would be taking with them in about three hours time. But unfortunately the job was only half done. The group took a lunch break before attempting to unload all the furniture and boxes they had just loaded into the rented U-haul truck. Suzanne had gone out and gotten burgers and French fries for everyone, which they all gratefully devoured. Then they all drove over to the new house and started reversing the task they had just completed.

* * *

"It's super cute," Haley said as she, Molly, and Carissa entered the new house together.

"Yeah, not bad," Carissa agreed. "It'll do."

"Glad you approve," Molly answered. "Now come on, I'll show you my room," Molly said as she dragged her friends down the hall.

"Mom said I can paint it red," she stated with a smile as they walked into her new room.  
"Awesome, that will look really cool with your black comforter and whatnot," Haley stated.

"Yeah, you'll finally get your red and black room," Carissa said. "She has been trying to convince her mom for the past 5 years at least to let her paint her old room red," she informed Haley.

"Yep, and it's finally happening, well this room, not the old one."

Nicole spied her sister and friends just standing around in Molly's empty room as she walked by to get another load of her stuff. "Your stuff's not going to carry itself in!" she yelled out to Molly.

"Shut up, dude, we're on it!" Molly yelled back. "Come on, we should probably get started," Molly said to her friends and led the way back to the front of the house.

A few hours later the truck was empty and they had managed to make the house halfway livable with furniture in every room and beds set up.

"Well thank you for all your help today, kids," Suzanne said kindly to the group while Carter closed the back of the U-haul truck. "Now come on, dinner's on me, let's go," she urged as she shooed the teenagers toward their cars. As they took off for the restaurant she ran back into the house for a second and then locked the front door. As she was getting into her car, a silver Mercedes pulled up to the curb near behind her car, she noticed it out of the corner of her eye, and immediately recognized the car.

She stopped what she was doing and went straight for the silver car and stopped right next to the driver, who rolled the window down.

"What are you doing here, Mark?" she demanded.

"I, uh, I wanted to see where my children will be living," he stated.

"Well this is it, but you're not welcome here, you should go," Suzanne declared in a strong, even tone.

"I just, uh, Suzanne," he started and she could tell he was nervous, "I, uh, would like to speak to Molly, I need to apologize again," he finished in a small voice while looking down.

"What do you mean again?" she asked.

"Oh, I thought she would have mentioned it to you," he said.

"Well she didn't, so tell me."

"Uh, well I went to her soccer practice the other day and in the parking lot told her I was sorry, but she said she couldn't talk to me right then and she left," Mark recalled.

"Oh," Suzanne responded.

At this point he opened his car door and got out. "Suzanne, I was surprised by her, uh, announcement, I wasn't prepared," he said. "I didn't handle the situation correctly."

"No kidding," she said. "Did you really not suspect a thing though?" she asked, genuinely curious. "Because I've had an idea since she was twelve or thirteen," she said.

"Really? Wow, uh, I guess when I look back there were signs, but I ignored them because I didn't want it to be true."

"Ignoring something doesn't make it go away, Mark. Your daughter needed you to acknowledge it and tell her it was ok, and you were a coward."

"I know," he said with tears in his eyes, "I messed up, and I want to make it right."

"Good, but that's up to Molly, I'll talk to her about talking to you, but I'm not promising anything."

He nods.

"And if she doesn't want to talk to you right now you need to give her time. You can't just approach her like that again, she won't respond well."

"Yeah, ok. Thank you, Suzanne. I really appreciate this. I made a lot of mistakes," he said as he looked into her eyes, "and I just want the chance to make a few of them right," he said.

Suzanne caught his double meaning and nodded. "Alright," she said. "Well I have to go meet the kids now, but I'll call you in a few days to tell you what Molly said."

"Ok, thank you," he said again.

* * *

Nathan was walking down the hall to his bedroom when his phone started ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and answered, "Hello?"

"Nathan, it's Jesse, just wanted to see how the product has been working for you so far," Jesse Phillips said.

"It's good, man," Nathan replied. "I've seen a little improvement so far, and I feel great while I'm working out."

"Good, it's still early, but in the next two to three weeks you should really start to see the effects."

"Excellent, thanks again, Jesse."

"Yeah, so call me if you have any questions, I'll check in on you again though."

"Alright, later," Nathan said then hung up the phone. He plopped onto his bed and smiled. He was stoked to be on his way to being the best.

* * *

The three Finn's had been enjoying their first few days at their new house. Molly and Nicole were excited to have their own spaces again and Suzanne was having a good time decorating the place. They still had a few more boxes to unpack and whatnot, but the place was looking pretty good.

On Friday night Nicole bounced into the kitchen to find her mom working on dinner. "Hey mom," she said as she took a seat at the table.

"Hey, are you ready for your first date?" Suzanne asked with a smile.

"Yep, he should be here in ten minutes or so," Nicole responded, with a smile on her face as well. Her grounding had ended a few days prior and Carter had asked her out in his awkwardly adorable way.

Molly entered the kitchen a few seconds later and said "Aw, Nikki, you look cute."

"Doesn't she?" their mom agreed.

"Of course I do," Nicole responded. "Where's Haley?" she asked. "I thought she was coming over for dinner."

"She's on her way. Hopefully she'll get here in time to see you off," Molly said with a smirk.

"There will be no seeing me off," Nicole stated. "He's going to text me when he's here and I'm meeting him outside."

"Absolutely not," Suzanne said, "He will come to the door to pick you up properly. Besides, I would like to say a few words to the both of you before you leave."

"Uh, no thanks, mom, we're good," she said as she got up to leave the room.

"Tell him to come to the door," Suzanne instructed in a serious tone.

Five minutes later the doorbell rang, Nicole sprinted to it and got there first. She opened the door to see Haley standing there. "Oh, hey Haley, come on in," she said.  
"Thanks Nicole. Excited for the big date?" she inquired.

"Yeah, he should be here any minute," Nicole stated.

"Cool, where's Molly?" Haley asked as she closed the door behind her.

"In the kitchen."

Haley made her way into the kitchen and greeted her girlfriend and Suzanne. "Thanks for having me over for dinner, Mrs. Finn," she said.

"Of course, anytime," Suzanne responded.

Just then the doorbell rang again, "That must be Carter," Molly said.

All three of them headed to the front door to find Nicole opening the door to reveal Carter standing there looking awkward and nervous.

"Carter," Suzanne said warmly, "Please, come in for a minute."

"Uh, ok, but my dad's waiting in the car to drive us to the restaurant," he stated.

"It'll just take a minute," Suzanne responded.

"Ok," he said and then closed the door.

Suzanne led the way to the living room and they all sat down.

"So, where are you two going tonight?" Suzanne asked.

"Uh, to the Italian restaurant by the beach, then we'll probably walk around for a while or something," Carter said nervously.

"Alright, be back by 11, and you are to engage in absolutely no illegal or inappropriate activities, is that clear?" she asked as she deliberately looked at her youngest daughter.

"Got it, mom," Nicole said impatiently, "Can we go now?"

"Just one more minute, I want a couple pictures," Suzanne said as she pulled her camera out of her pocket.

Nicole groaned, but gave in quickly, deciding to just get it over with so they could go. The pair posed for a couple pictures with Molly and Haley looking on.

"They look good together," Molly stated.

"Yeah, Carter looks nice all dressed up," Haley responded.

"Sure does."

When Suzanne was satisfied a few clicks of the camera later Nicole and Carter were permitted to leave.

As the three headed back to the kitchen Molly remarked, "Wow, mom, I'm really glad Haley and I were covert in the beginning, that was super embarrassing for them."

"It was not, they were fine. I just wanted a few pictures. It was her first date, after all," Suzanne explained. "And the next date you two have I am definitely taking pictures," she added.

"Uh, no you aren't," Molly said.

Haley laughed then said, "Moll, it's fine. We could use a few more pictures together anyway."

Molly sighed then responded, "Fine, whatever."

* * *

As Carter's dad pulled up to the restaurant they would be dining at that evening Carter said "Thanks, Pops, see you later," then jumped out of the car and rushed around to Nicole's side to open the car door for her.

She climbed out, with a "Thank you" to Carter's dad as well.

They made their way into the restaurant and were seated immediately, as Carter had made a reservation.

After they were seated they both grabbed a menu and started looking at the items on it in silence. After a minute Nicole set her menu down and said, "I'm really glad you finally asked me out."

Carter looked up and said "Yeah, me too, just had to get my nerve up."

"You were nervous?"

"Super, couldn't you tell? I mean you're like the prettiest girl I've ever seen," he said shyly.

Nicole blushed a tiny bit then said "Thanks, but couldn't you tell that I liked you too?"

"A little bit, but I was worried that you only wanted to be friends, and I didn't want to make things awkward if that was the case," he reasoned.

"Well it wasn't, so you shouldn't have waited so long."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but we're here now, so what are you going to order?" he asked.

"I'm thinking some sort of pasta, you?"

"Lasagna for sure."

The two teenagers enjoyed themselves as the night progressed, talking about school, their families, and where they hope to go to college in a few years.

After an excellent meal followed by delicious desserts, Carter paid the bill and they left the restaurant. The pair walked down to the beach, hand in hand, while throwing each other shy glances.

When they stopped at the end of the pier, looking out at the ocean Nicole said "Tonight has been really great, Carter."

"Yeah, it has," he said as he turned to face her. "I know this is only our first date, but, umm, we've been friends for a long time and I really like you," he paused for a second, then asked "Will you be my girlfriend?"

With barely a second's pause Nicole answered "Yes, of course I will." Carter smiled then leaned in to kiss her, after pulling away he said "Good," then kissed her again.

* * *

Molly and Haley were cuddling on the couch watching a movie when Nicole got back from her date. "Hey Nik, how'd it go?" Molly asked as she watched her sister take a seat on the chair next to the couch.

"Really well," Nicole responded with a huge grin on her face.

"Well, details, please," Molly prodded.

"Fine," Nicole said, "But can you please pause the movie?" she asked as she involuntarily cringed at the gory scene taking place. "What the hell are you watching, anyway?"

"Rest Stop, it's awesomely bad," Haley answered as Molly paused it.

"Alright, it's paused, now tell us," Molly whined impatiently.

"Well, he took me to that fancy Italian restaurant, the food was awesome, and so was dessert. He paid for everything. Then we walked along the beach and on the pier, and when we got to the end of it, looking out at the ocean he asked me to be his girlfriend, and then he kissed me," she recalled.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Molly squealed, and Haley agreed with her then said "We're happy for you, Nicole."

"Thanks, I'm happy too."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Parents and Clashes

Molly was sitting at the counter in the kitchen of the new Finn residence working on her calculus homework after school when her mom walked in.

"What are you working on?" Suzanne asked her daughter as she went to the refrigerator, opened it, and started pulling items out.

"More calculus. I'm guessing Principal Turner did talk to Mr. Donahue like he said he would, because recently the guy has been ignoring me completely, telling Derek to shut up every time he opens his mouth, and assigning a ton of homework," Molly explained, which was followed by an exasperated groan.

"Well I guess that's better than him picking on you," Suzanne reasoned.

"Barely," Molly replied. "So how was work today?" she asked.

"It was fine, we had a few more customers than normal, so that's good," Suzanne replied as she started chopping vegetables. After a few moments of silence she asked her daughter, "So have you thought any more about talking to your dad again?"

Molly looked up from her homework at this question but didn't respond right away. A couple nights after they moved in Suzanne had spoken to Molly about her encounter with Mark as she told him she would. Molly had said then that she needed a few days to think about it.

"He seemed really genuine about wanting to apologize to you, Moll, I think you should at least hear him out," Suzanne added when Molly didn't answer right away.

"I'll let him apologize, I'm just not sure yet if I can forgive him, mom," she said honestly. "I can't get the look on his face as he told me to get out and that I wasn't his daughter anymore out of my head. It was cold and uncaring. It wasn't the father I had grown up with. The father who would tuck me in every night until I was 12, or who used to brush out my ratty long hair when I'd get out of the bath when I was little. He looked at me like I was someone he didn't know, and didn't want to know."

While Molly was speaking her mother had stopped what she was doing and walked around the counter. She stopped next to Molly and put her arm around her. When Molly finished speaking Suzanne responded with "Sweetie, I get what you're saying, his response was inexcusable, and he admitted that. I'm not pushing you to forgive him, but just asking that you listen to what he has to say, because deep down, somewhere, he still is that man you described."

After a few seconds of silence Molly said, "Ok, I'll talk to him, but I still don't know what I'm going to say," she said as she looked up into her mother's eyes.

"Just say what you feel, Moll. Be honest, even if it's to say that you need more time. That's fine too," Suzanne reassured.

"Ok, Mom, thanks," she said as they hugged.

* * *

When Nathan got home from basketball practice Wednesday after school he headed straight into his room, walked to the closet and pulled out a shoe box. He opened the box and grabbed a syringe, then picked up the steroids, filled the syringe and injected himself. He smiled as he pushed the plastic device down, resulting in the drug entering his blood stream. He was really starting to see the results already. He's been able to work out harder for longer periods of time, and he was really excited about what this meant for his future.

He had visions of himself blowing everyone out of the water in high school basketball, playing for one of the best college basketball teams in the country, breaking all the records, then being drafted into the NBA and having an amazing career. He had come to the conclusion that he didn't need any friends or a girlfriend right now, because when he got to college and the NBA, everyone would want to be his friend again. He'd just have to watch out for dykes who dress and act like straight girls, he told himself. He was never going to make that mistake again, falling for a filthy dyke.

After taking his daily dose of steroids he laid down on his bed and started reading a book for school. Recently he had been doing a lot better with his school work. He didn't have a lot of distractions, he was focused and determined to do better so he could prove to everyone that he doesn't need them, especially Haley. He decided that he was going to get great grades without a tutor to show that he never really needed Haley's help. As he was reading Dan had returned to the house and made his way up to his son's room to make sure he was studying.

He knocked sharply then opened the door to Nathan's room without waiting for a response. "Good, you're studying, come down in half an hour, we're going to go through your shooting drills before dinner," he informed his son.  
"Ok," Nathan replied without looking up.

A half hour later he was outside shooting shot after shot around the three point line as Dan grabbed the rebounds and passed the ball back to Nathan. After thirty minutes of that Dan commanded the boy to run suicides as he recorded his times and wrote them down in a notebook. When he finally allowed Nathan to stop and get some water he looked over the times from that day and flipped back a few weeks to compare.

"Wow, Nathan, you've improved quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, I'm impressed," Dan said.

Nathan looked surprised at the compliment then said, "Thanks, Dad, I've been working hard."

"Well it's actually paying off. Keep it up, son."

"Yes, sir," Nathan responded as he watched in shock as his dad headed into the house. He was definitely not used to that kind of response from his father. At this point in the routine his father was usually berating him about how much harder he needs to work, and how much more improvement needs to be made before he is at a college level. But today Dan had actually said that Nathan had made some progress, and he was stoked.

* * *

While Nathan was working out with his father, across town Lucas and Brooke had just arrived at the Roe residence to have dinner with Karen and Keith. This was the first time that he was introducing her to his mom and uncle, and he was a little nervous. After a quick "It'll go fine, it's not like you're coming out to them," pep talk from Haley, Lucas had picked Brooke up from her house to find that she was even more nervous than he originally was.

"Lucas, I've never met the parents before," Brooke started in the car, "Well technically I've met some parents, but it was never an official meeting thing, like tonight, and I wasn't really into any of those guys anyway. They were just something to do to pass the time," she rambled.

"Brooke, it will go fine, and technically you're only meeting one parent," he paused, "and an uncle."

She gave him a look that said she didn't think he was funny, "Shut it, Luke, you said he's been like a father to you your whole life, so same thing."

"Yeah, I know, but he's awesome, so just be glad that you're not meeting Dan tonight, although you've already met him, but you get what I mean," he said.

"I do, because unfortunately I've ran into Dan a few too many times when I used to hang out at Nathan's. I always get a creepy feeling whenever I see him, like something's not right with him."

"Yeah, he has that effect on most people, well people with a soul at least," Luke said as he pulled up to the curb in front of his house. "Alright, let's do it," he said as he grabbed Brooke's arm and lead her to the front door.

They entered the house and headed to the kitchen with Luke leading the way.

"Mom, Uncle Keith," he announced, "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Brooke Davis."

Karen put down the knife she had been using to chop vegetables at Luke's announcement and walked over to the pair. "It's lovely to finally meet you, Brooke. Lucas talks about you all the time," she said with a warm smile, then pulled the younger brunette into a hug.

"It's great to meet you, too," Brooke said. After they pulled back from the hug she said "Thank you so much for having me over for dinner."

"Of course, we're glad to have you."

The evening went smoothly with everyone getting along well and conversation flowing naturally and casually. Brooke had lost her nerves early on as she quickly became comfortable with Karen and Keith. After Karen served apple pie for dessert and everyone was sufficiently stuffed, Luke informed his mom and uncle that he was going to drive Brooke home and he'd be back soon.

"Thanks so much for the amazing meal, Ms. Roe, it was a really nice evening," Brooke stated as they were on their way out the door.

"Anytime, Brooke. It was really nice having you over, and please, call me Karen."

"Ok," she said with a small smile.

"Yeah, it was great to meet you, Brooke," Keith chimed in. "You did well, Lucas," he said.

Luke chuckled then said, "I definitely did, see you guys in a few," then he shut the door and led his girlfriend back to his car.

"See?" Luke asked once they were both in the car, "Told you it would be fine."

"You were right. They're both really nice, Luke. You're really lucky to have them," Brooke said as she looked out the window.

"I know, and now you have them, too," Luke said. "I know how your parents aren't around much, so if you ever need something, I know they'll be there to help, and of course I will be too."

"Thanks, Luke, I really appreciate that," she said with a couple tears in her eyes that she quickly wiped away.

* * *

After the bell rang signaling the end of the second to last period on Thursday Haley gathered her stuff and left the classroom. As she was walking to her locker to switch books before the last class of the day Molly appeared by her side.

"Oh, hello there, girlfriend," Molly said.

"Oh, hey, funny seeing you here, girlfriend," Haley replied as they grabbed each other's hands. They had a few minutes to kill before the next class would begin so they headed to Haley's locker together. "So I decided I'm going to talk to my dad tonight," Molly stated.

"Oh yeah? That's great, Moll. I hope it goes well."

"Yeah," she paused. "He's coming by the house later. I'm a little nervous to see him again," Molly admitted.

"That's understandable. He did say some terrible things to you, but he has repeatedly shown his remorse and desire to make up, so I think it's good that you're giving him the chance to apologize."

"Yeah, well I should head to class," Molly said as she turned to go, "I'll let you know how it goes tonight."

"Alright, later," Haley said.

Molly daydreamed through her last class then wandered over to the soccer field for practice after school. She was having trouble focusing during practice, but managed to get through the drills and conditioning well enough. When she got home she sat around watching TV, waiting for her father to arrive. Her mom got there an hour after Molly did and offered her some words of encouragement which unfortunately didn't do much to help with the nerves.

When there was finally a knock at the door, a whole eight minutes after the time Mark said he would be by, Molly made her way to the door. She opened it and just looked at her father for a moment. He then broke the awkward silence by saying, "Hi, Molly, how are you?"

"Hi, umm, I'm ok," she replied as she slipped out the door and joined him on the front porch. She shut the door then walked over to one of the chairs to the right. Mark followed suit.

Mark once again began the conversation. "Thank you, Molly, for allowing me to do this. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the biggest one was at that dinner table a few months ago. I allowed hate and prejudice to influence my beliefs and it ended up costing me my family, which will always include you," Mark said as he looked up and into Molly's eyes. "I know I can't erase what I said, but you are my daughter, you always will be, and I love you, Moll." A few tears started to make their way down Mark's cheeks as he spoke. "I'm so sorry."

Molly looked into his eyes and saw genuine sorrow, along with hope. She also saw a glimpse of the father she had known when she was a child. By this point tears had filled her eyes as well and had started to fall. She stood up, still silent, and walked the two steps to place her right in front of her father. He stood as well and she pulled him into a hug.

"I've missed you, Daddy," she choked out.

"I've missed you too, sweetie."

After they pulled apart Molly said, "Dad, I accept your apology, and I want you to be a part of my life again, but it's going to take me some time to get back there," she informed him.

"Ok," he said as he nodded. "I'll do whatever you want, Moll."

Molly nodded back as more tears fell.

* * *

"So how did it go with your dad last night?" Lucas asked Molly as they sat at their lunch table with Haley, Brooke, and Peyton occupying the table as well. She looked up at him with a questioning look so he explained. "Haley told me you were going to talk to him last night."

"Yeah, I did. It went surprisingly well actually. We were both in tears within five minutes," she stated. "I don't know if I'll ever trust him as fully as I did before, but after hearing what he had to say last night I'm willing to give him another chance."

"That's great, Molly," Luke said.

"Yeah, good for you," Brooke added as Peyton nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," Molly replied. "So now we only have Haley's dad and sister Taylor to contend with then we're all out to the families, well only counting immediate family members that is."

"Yeah, Taylor will be home for Christmas, and my dad," Haley said, "well he lives twenty minutes away and I only see him about once every three months, so I really don't know when I'm going to do that one."

"Whenever you're ready, babe, don't rush it," Molly advised just as Derek Riley approached the table.

He walked up, looking quite pissed and growled, "Hey, look who it is, the fucking lesbian who got me suspended and grounded because she's a dyke."

Haley was sitting closest to where Derek was standing and immediately stood up when she heard his venomous words, as did Luke.

"Save it, Derek. That was all you, buddy," Molly replied in an even tone.

He chuckled bitterly at her statement and started to make his way closer to Molly. Haley stepped in front of him before he could continue and said, "Go away, Derek. This won't end well for you."

"Oh, is that right?" he asked, rhetorically. "I just need to take care of some unfinished business with your dyke of a girlfriend, now get out of my way," Derek said as he pushed Haley to the side. She was shocked by the contact and stumbled to the ground, but was unhurt.

"What the fuck, man?" Luke exploded as he lunged at Derek and pushed him back a few steps. Derek swung at Luke, hitting him in the face, right below his right eye. Luke, unfazed, cocked his own arm back and delivered a punch to Derek's left eye. He then felt himself being pulled back by someone, and Derek was blocked from his view as someone else had jumped in between them and pulled him away from Lucas. It had been two male teachers that had broken up the fight before it could escalate anymore.

Derek continued to yell obscenities and try to get at Lucas again, so both teachers grabbed him and started forcing him toward the front of the school to see Principal Turner. "I'll be back for you," one of them informed Lucas with a pointed look.

Luke nodded then made his way to Haley to make sure she was ok.

After Haley assured everyone that she was fine they all settled down a bit and sat at the table once again.

"This is getting really ridiculous," Molly stated. "I'm starting to not feel very safe at this school anymore."

"I know, I almost feel like we should have body guards," Haley said.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure my fist says that I'm on it," Luke said as he rubbed his hand.

"Yeah, thanks, Luke," Molly said

Five minutes later the teacher, Mr. Giovanni, was back to retrieve Lucas as he promised, and he led him to the office as well.

"Don't worry, Mr. Scott, I saw the whole thing, starting with Derek pushing Ms. James and I just told Turner, but since this isn't your first offence with fighting, you'll still probably get a few days of detention at least."

"Ok," Luke said, "Thanks, Mr. Giovanni."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Revelations

"Yes, Mr. Turner, alright. Yes, I can come in to meet with you today. Ok, good bye," Suzanne said. Principal Turner had called Suzanne Finn requesting that she and her (soon to be ex) husband both come to the school that afternoon, Friday, to speak with him. He didn't say too much on the phone, only that there was an incident earlier that involved Molly and Haley, and that Haley's parents had been called to attend the meeting as well.

Suzanne called Molly directly after hanging up with Principal Turner, but she did not answer, which wasn't too strange because it was after school and soccer practice should be in session. But she was worried about her daughter and Haley so she tried anyway. After getting no response she hurried off to the school to see what the incident was all about.

Fifteen minutes later Suzanne pulled into the school parking lot. She saw Mark getting out of his car and made her way over to him.

"You got a call too?" she asked as she approached Mark's car.

He turned around at the question and said "Yeah, they said there was an incident that Molly was involved in. Do you know what happened?"

"No, the principal was vague with me as well," Suzanne answered.

"Alright, let's get in there and find out what happened then," he said, and they both headed toward the school.

When they got to the office they identified themselves to the secretary and she ushered them into Principal Turner's office, informing them that he was ready to see them.

They walked through the door after knocking and Principal Turner looked up and said "Hello, I'm Frank Turner, and you are?" he asked as he stood up from his desk.

"Mark Finn, Molly's dad," Mark sad as he walked forward and shook hands with the principal.

"And I'm Suzanne, Molly's mom."

"It's nice to meet you both," Principal Turner said as he shook Suzanne's hand as well. "Please, take a seat," he urged, then sat back down himself.

"Thank you both for coming on such short notice, Haley's parents should be arriving shortly as well," he informed Molly's parents just as there was another knock on the door. "That's probably them," he said then instructed the knocker to come in.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Jimmy James, apparently my presence is needed here today?" He asked with a thick southern drawl as he walked toward Principal Turner and shook his outstretched hand.

"Yes, thank you for coming, I'm Frank Turner, the principal here at Tree Hill High."

Mark and Suzanne introduced themselves to Jimmy as well. Then Principal Turner began to speak.

"Well, while we wait for Lydia to arrive why don't I explain why I called you all in and we can catch her up later?" he proposed.

"Yes, please, I'm sure we're all quite curious to hear what this is all about," Suzanne answered.

"Yeah, and I'm sure she'll be here any minute anyway," Jimmy added.

"Alright, well I'm sure you all know that both of your daughters have been having a tough time at school ever since Nathan Scott outed them to the whole school at the rally a few months back," he started.

Mr. James scrunched his brow at Principal Turner's statement, confusion evident on his face.

Principal Turner continued. "Today at lunch a student, Derek Riley, was verbally harassing them. He was trying to get to Molly because he blamed her for himself getting in trouble. He pushed Haley out of the way, then Lucas Scott jumped in and they both threw a punch before it was broken up. I called you all in because I'm worried about the safety of your daughters and I want to personally let you know that I am doing my best to combat the bullying, harassment, and violence that your daughters are facing to make Tree Hill a safe environment for everyone," he stated.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Jimmy interrupted. "Why are they being harassed?" he asked as he looked around at everyone, noticing no one else looked confused at the principal's words.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I assumed that your daughter or wife would have informed you about what has been going on," Principal Turner explained.

"Well she's not my wife anymore, and Haley and I don't talk all that much," Jimmy stated, "So why don't you explain to me what you're talkin' 'bout."

"Uh, yes," Principal Turner said, looking quite uncomfortable, "Alright. Well, Nathan Scott announced to the whole school that Molly and Haley are dating, and they have had to endure homophobic comments and harassment since then, from both students and teachers, and I am trying to make this school more tolerant and a safe place for all students," he finished.

"What? Dating? My daughter and their daughter?" Jimmy asked, quite shocked, as he gestured at Mr. and Mrs. Finn. "Haley wouldn't so that, she's not gay," he tried to reason, not wanting to believe it.

"Mr. James," Suzanne interjected, "I know this is not the ideal way to find this out, and I'm sure Haley didn't picture it happening this way either, but she and Molly are girlfriends, and they have been for a couple months now. I can tell this is a shock to you, but your daughter needs you right now. Being gay is not an easy thing with all the hateful bigots out there," she said as she shot a quick glance at Mark then looked pointedly at Jimmy, as if telling him not to be one. "They both need all of their family's support, especially right now."

After Suzanne finished speaking Jimmy stands up and mumbles, "I gotta go," and quickly exits the office.

Mark then stands too and declared, "I know what he's feeling, it was a shock to me as well, I'm going to go talk to him," then he went after Jimmy.

After the two men left the room Principal Turner turns to Suzanne, still looking uncomfortable. "I didn't mean to do that," he says sheepishly. "I really thought he would have known about everything."

"It's not your fault," Suzanne assured him, "You couldn't have known. But was Haley hurt when she was pushed?" she asked, changing the subject.

"No, she's fine, Molly too. Derek is being suspended for 3 days. If we have one more problem with him he will be expelled," he stated.

"Alright, that's good."

Mark quickly caught up to Jimmy just outside the entrance to the school. He was sitting on a bench, staring off into the distance when Mark approached him.

"Bit of a shock, huh?" Mark asked as he walked up with his hands in his pockets, feeling a little uncomfortable, but determined to help.

"Uh, yeah, you could say that," Jimmy agreed. "I mean, sure, she's never had a boyfriend, likes sports a lot, but she's also a cheerleader, and I, I guess I just hoped…"

"You hoped that you could just ignore the signs and eventually she'd start dating a guy," Mark finished for him as he sat down on the bench next to the other man.

"Basically, yeah," Jimmy replied. "That would have been nice."

"I had the same thinking, and when Molly came out to me a few months ago, I let my religious, conservative upbringing dictate the way I reacted to her, and I told her that being gay was unacceptable and that she was no longer my daughter," he stated as he looked straight ahead while remembering that night. Then he turned his head and looked directly into Jimmy's eyes, "It was the biggest mistake of my life. My wife and two daughters moved out that night and I was left with nothing. We're getting divorced," he said as he turned back to stare at nothing in front of him.

"So what did you do?" Jimmy asked.

"I found myself alone with my beliefs, and realized that it wasn't worth it. I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who she loves, just that she loves, and that she's happy and healthy."

Jimmy nodded his head in silence.

"So I groveled for a while, trying to get her to agree to talk to me again so I could apologize, and she finally agreed. Last night I told her how much I love her and that I was deeply sorry about how I treated her. She forgave me, but I don't think our relationship will ever get back to what it was before," he admitted.

"Wow, talk about a cautionary tale," Jimmy chuckled. "But I'm already divorced so Lydia can't leave me again."

Mark gave him a tiny smile in response, then Jimmy continued, "But thank you for sharing that with me."

Mark nodded.

While the two men were sitting in silence Lydia came walking up from the parking lot.

"Jimmy, is the meeting over?" she asked. "I couldn't get away until now, what happened?"

"Uh, it's not over, I only got to the part about how our daughter is gay and being harassed because of it," he informed his ex-wife.

"Oh," she said and then paused. "Is Haley ok? And Molly?"

"Yes, they're both ok. Principal Turner just wanted to inform us about what has been going on, and that he is working to stop it," Mark jumped in. "I'm Mark Finn, by the way, Molly's dad."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you," she said, slightly shocked as she didn't know yet that Molly and her dad had made up.

"I'm going to head back inside, I'll let them know that you will be in shortly," he stated, knowing that the two needed to talk.

"Thank you," Lydia said as he walked away. She then took the spot that Mark had just vacated. "How are you doing, Jimmy?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"To be honest, I'm pretty shocked, and don't really know what to think," he stated. "Mark was telling me about how he regrets the way he reacted when Molly told him, and I don't want that to happen with me and Haley. I love her, no matter what. I just need to get my head around all of this."

"That's understandable, but the two of you definitely need to talk about this, and the sooner the better. So don't take too long with that head of yours," she advised with a slight smile.

"Ok, yeah, I will talk to her. But I think we should get back to that meeting with the principal."

"Good idea," she said as she got up. She gave him a sideways hug as they both walked into the school, and told him she was proud of him.

The rest of the meeting went by without incident, as the four parents spoke with Principal Turner about their concerns for their daughters and the principal informed them of his plans on how to deal with everything. He is working on an anti-bullying policy that he is going to present to the school board soon.

Lydia walked into the house a couple hours later after picking up dinner. "Hey, Hales," she said as she noticed her youngest daughter sitting at the counter working on homework.

"Hey mom, you're later than usual, everything alright?" she asked.

"Fine, I had to stop by your school for a little meeting which shifted my schedule back an hour."

"What? Why?" Haley asked in confusion.

"Principal Turner called me, your dad, and Molly's parents in to talk about the bullying and how he wants to handle it," she informed Haley.

"Really? Was it because of what happened at lunch today?" she asked.

"Yes, that was what prompted the meeting. But Haley, there's something I have to tell you."

Haley dropped her pencil as she heard the tone her mother only used when she had something serious to talk about. "What is it, mom?"

"Well, I was running a little behind and got to the meeting late, but your father was there on time, and Principal Turner assumed he knew about what has been going on, and well, your father knows you're gay," she stated, and waited for Haley's reaction.

"Oh," Haley said then looked down, "Umm, what did he say?" she asked in a small voice, while her heart started thumping wildly.

"He said that he was a little shocked, but he loves you very much and nothing will ever change that."

Haley's heart flipped and she let out a huge sigh of relief. "Really? So he's ok with it?"

"Yes, I think so. He said he needed a little while to process things, but he wants to talk to you soon. I just wanted to warn you," Lydia explained.

"Ok, thanks, mom," she said, then looked away. "Wow, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I feel lighter. After seeing what happened with Molly's dad I was convinced things were going to go terribly when I told him."

"Well, Principal Turner took care of that for you," Lydia said with a laugh. "And your dad actually took it pretty well, I think."

"Yeah, wow, I guess I'll have to thank Principal Turner for that," Haley said with a laugh as well.

When Molly got home from soccer practice that day she walked through the door, dropped her soccer bag on the ground, and flopped onto the open couch in the living room. The other one was occupied by Nicole and Carter, sitting quite close while watching TV.

"Hey dudes," Molly declared, "Whatcha watching?" she asked, as commercials currently danced across the screen.

"Scrubs. How was practice?" Nicole inquired.

"Good, but exhausting. I'm so tired."

"I can see that, you look like a zombie almost," her sister informed her.

"Thanks, that's what I was going for," Molly said sarcastically.

"Yeah, you just need some white face make up and you're ready for Halloween," Carter added.

"I get it, I look like shit, and if you guys don't shut it I'm going to eat your brains," Molly half-heartedly threatened.

"There will be no brain eating in this house," Suzanne declared as she entered the room just in time to hear Molly's statement. "Moll, come into the kitchen, I need to talk to you."

"Ok," Molly said as she dragged herself off of the couch and followed her mom. She sat at the kitchen table as her mom did the same. "What's up?" she asked.

"Your dad and I had a meeting with Principal Turner and Haley's parents today after school. He called us because of what happened at lunch with Derek. He wanted to inform us all that he's doing his best to put a stop to the bullying and harassment that you are Haley are receiving," she said.

"Oh, wow. Well that's good."

"Yeah, he seems really serious about making your school safer. Derek was suspended and if he gets one more strike against him he will be expelled," Suzanne said, relaying Principal Turner's words to her daughter.

"Good, he should be. I was scared today, mom. He was so mad and he was trying to get to me. I think he wanted to hurt me," Molly admitted.

"I'm so sorry, honey. Thankfully Lucas was there. And Principal Turner said he is going to have teachers keeping an eye on you two at lunch from now on. And just to be safe, try not to go anywhere by yourself. Even if you need to go to the bathroom during class, ask the teacher to let someone go with you. Principal Turner said he will inform all of the teachers that this is ok for you and Haley."

"Alright, I'll do that, but isn't school supposed to be a safe place? I shouldn't have to do all this."

"I know, sweetie, but unfortunately this is the way things are right now."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Body Guards and Clock Makers

Haley parked her car outside of her favorite restaurant, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and just sat there. She had been summoned to the restaurant by her father. He asked her to meet him there so they could have dinner and talk. It had been four days since the after school meeting, and despite her mother's words of encouragement she was still nervous. She was worried that he was going to act weird or differently toward her from now on, and she didn't want that. But she didn't really want things to stay the same between them either, because she and her father have not been very close for the past year or so, and she didn't like that either. So basically, she wasn't sure how to act or what to expect, but she knew she couldn't stall much longer, so she got out of the car after five minutes of just sitting there and walked into the restaurant.

She had seen her father's car in the parking lot so she bypassed the perky hostess and walked through the restaurant looking for him.

"Haley! Over here!" she heard her father call from the other side of the room. She made her way over to him and was greeted with a hug. "Hi, Hales. It's really good to see you. Thanks for comin'," he said as they both sat down.

"Yeah, dad, good to see you too. It's been a while."

"It has, and I'm sorry 'bout that, I need to make a better effort to see my girls more often. And it appears that I've missed a lot recently," he said. When Haley only nodded he then asked, "So, how's school?"

"Well, classes are fine, so is cheerleading and tutoring, but other things aren't so great," she responded as she looked down at her hands.

"Yeah, I heard that you've been having some problems with other kids recently. I'm really sorry to hear that," he stated, sincerely.

"Yeah, that's one way of putting it," she said, paused for a second, then continued, "Another is that my girlfriend and I have been being harassed because we're gay." After stating it so plainly she looked up at her father to try to gauge his reaction.

He nodded his head at her admission and felt his heart break a bit as he saw the pain and vulnerability on her face.

"Yes, that would be what I was referring to, and it breaks my heart that you have to put up with this," he said. "Why didn't you tell me about any of this yourself?" he asked softly.

After a second's pause Haley answered, "I, I was scared, dad. I didn't know how you were going to react and I couldn't bear to lose you because of this. And after seeing what happened with Molly and her dad, I decided that it would be easier to not say anything for now," she said then looked up directly into his eyes. "Because for some reason it seemed like a better option to have you love me while not knowing who I truly am, than to risk losing you forever when I told you."

"Hales," Jimmy said while tears started to form in his eyes, "I'm so sorry that you felt you couldn't tell me this. I never meant for you to feel like anything you did, or are, would be unacceptable to me," he wiped at his eyes with one hand while he grabbed Haley's hand with his other. "You are one of the most amazing people I know, so loving, selfless, and good, and I am honored to call you my daughter. I will love you forever, Hales, no matter what."

Haley stood at hearing his confession and pulled him into a hug. She cried into his chest as he held her as close as he could.

"I love you, Daddy," she choked out, while feelings of relief and love flooded her body.

"I love you too, Hales, and I'm so sorry," he reiterated.

After a few minutes they broke apart and sat back down. The waiter came by soon after and took their order. While they were waiting for their food Jimmy asked his daughter, "So, tell me 'bout this girlfriend of yours, what's she like?"

A huge grin formed on Haley's face and she said, "She's great, daddy. Molly is funny, beautiful, thoughtful, and really good at sports. I think you'll like her a lot."

"I think so too, and I hope I can meet her sometime soon. Maybe you can bring her over to my place, or we can all go out to lunch or something," he suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Haley said, still smiling.

"Good, I'm looking forward to it."

Haley and her father continued chatting throughout the meal, both enjoying being with the other. When they were done Jimmy paid the bill and walked Haley to her car. "I had a really good time with you tonight," Jimmy said.

"Me too, dad. I'll call you soon so we can get together again, maybe with Quinn too."

"That would be great. Bye Hales, I love you."

"I love you, too, dad," she said, hugged him good bye, got in her car and drove off. She smiled the whole way home.

* * *

Things at school had been a little quieter for Haley and Molly since Derek's suspension. There was still the occasional snide remark from Nathan as he passed them in the hall, but that was the worst from him at the moment. And Luke had basically been shadowing one or both of them as much as possible and there were more teachers on duty throughout the school at all times. They both felt safer because of these things, but then again Derek had been serving his suspension for the past three days. They were all hoping that the threat of expulsion would keep him at bay and that he wouldn't be looking for revenge when he returned. Principal Turner had also told them that Derek was to attend mandatory counseling because of the incident, which they were hoping would do him some good.

So when Thursday rolled around, Derek's first day back, Luke stepped up his self appointed role as body guard to Haley and Molly. He walked them both to their classes all day, and made them stay in their classrooms until he could get there to walk with them to their next destination. Since they were a little nervous about Derek they allowed Luke to do this. When Luke walked Molly to her calculus class, which Derek is in as well, Luke stared him down, and Derek just looked away, ignoring them both completely. Satisfied for the time being, Luke ran off to his class.

Calculus passed by without incident, and without an interesting word being spoken if you asked Molly. Then right as the bell rang to signal the end of the period, Luke burst through the door. He had somehow convinced his teacher to let him leave class a few minutes early so as to make sure Derek would not be alone with Molly at all. And luckily once again Derek ignored the pair as he slid past Lucas and out of the classroom without a second look at either of them.

"Well that went well," Molly observed. "He didn't say one word to me."

"Good. Now let's get over to Haley's class," Luke said.

"Alright," Molly agreed as she pulled her backpack onto her back.

They made it two steps out of the classroom before Luke started freaking out. "Ah, shit. What if Derek was acting all apathetic because he knew I was with you, so that means Haley is alone?" he asked, speeding up his pace. Hurting her would be the best way to get back at both of us, hurry up!" he commanded to Molly as he started running through the halls.

Molly followed as best she could, weaving through her fellow students, half rolling her eyes at Luke's paranoia, and half freaking out because what he said kind of made sense. They both arrived at Haley's classroom a few minutes later, out of breath.

"What's going on?" Haley asked when she saw them. "Why are you panting?"

"Well, Derek left the classroom before us, and Luke was worried that meant he was headed to find you," Molly explained, "Which obviously wasn't true. Stop being such a drama queen, Luke."

"Hey, you were running too," he pointed out.

"Yeah, because your jumping to conclusions got me nervous."

"Well, I'm fine, so you can both stop it, now come on, let's go," Haley commanded as she grabbed Molly's hand and dragged her out of the classroom with Luke following directly behind.

* * *

"Hey, boyfriend," Brooke announced as she took a seat next to Luke with Molly and Haley across from them.

"Hey, Brooke," Luke returned as he leaned over and kissed her.

"I feel like I've barely seen you this past week and a half," Brooke pouted, "Ever since you became the lesbian security detail."

"Brooke, I'm just trying to make sure that Derek, or any other homophobic asshole here, doesn't mess with them again," he defended himself.

"I know, but I still miss you," Brooke said as she leaned in and they kissed again.

"You know Luke," Haley interrupted, "I think you can tone it down on 'guarding' us for now. Derek is ignoring us all and Nathan has stopped going out of his way to insult us."

"Yeah," Molly agreed, "We appreciate how awesome you've been, but I don't think we need the constant protection anymore."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't mind. I just want to make sure you guys are safe," Luke explained.

"We know, and with all the teachers stationed throughout the school we should be ok. And we still won't go anywhere by ourselves. So you can go back to constantly trailing your girlfriend, instead of mine," Haley finished with a smile.

"Yeah Luke, you're not really my type, sorry," Molly said.

"Very funny," Luke answered dryly, "But fine, I guess you're right. I'll stop walking you guys to and from class, but we're still having lunch together everyday," he said seriously.

"Deal," Haley said. "But if you want to run interference with Nathan at the basketball tournament this weekend, that would be great, because Molly's coming too."

"Of course. I'll make sure that asshole leaves you guys alone. But Dan is going to be there, so I'm sure he'll make sure Nathan is focused and not messing around," Luke stated.

"Ok, that's good," Haley said.

* * *

"So Nik, your birthday is rapidly approaching, what do you want to do this year?" Suzanne asked her youngest daughter as she placed a bowl of salad on the kitchen table.

"Umm, probably just a family dinner would be good, with a friend or two. I don't want a big party or anything," she answered.

"Alright, that sounds nice," Suzanne agreed as she sat down to join her and Molly.

"Oh come on, this is the big one-five, that's a quarter of an hour, a big birthday for clock makers and time enthusiasts," Molly stated with a serious expression.

"Really, Moll? Time enthusiasts?" Nicole questioned with a roll of her eyes.

"Yes, and Haley and I happen to be the biggest time enthusiasts this side of the Mississippi, and we want to take you and Carter to Six Flags to celebrate your quarter of an hour birthday."

"That doesn't even make sense, I've been alive a lot longer than a quarter of an hour, and you just made all of that up," Nicole accused.

"Well, that may be true," Molly acquiesced, "But we do want to take you there next Saturday, that work for you guys?" she questioned.

Nicole smiled then said, "Yeah, that should work, I'll check with Carter tonight. Sounds fun, Moll, thanks."

"Of course, you're my only sibling so I might as well spoil you once in a while. I mean, if we had five siblings or something you'd probably only get a card out of me, so be glad mom and dad stopped popping them out after you."

"Molly, please," Suzanne reprimanded, "We're having dinner. And 'popping them out,' as you so elegantly put it, is not proper dinner conversation."

"Fine, sorry, let's go back to clock making then, I've been thinking about career options lately and it's a real up and coming industry."

"Shut it, Moll," Nicole cut her sister off before she could spew any more of her BS. "Mom, do you think I should invite dad to the dinner?" she asked.

"That's up to you, sweetie. If you want him here that's fine, right Molly?" Suzanne questioned, turning to face Molly.

"Yeah, that's totally cool, Nik. We're good now," she paused, "Well, better."

"Ok, cool."

* * *

"You excited for the tournament?" Brooke asked Luke as he scurried around his bedroom throwing stuff in a bag.

"Yeah, it should be good, wish I had started packing earlier though," he answered.

The Tree Hill Ravens were participating in an exclusive tournament of which only the best high school basketball teams from the region are invited to. It is in Charlotte, about a four hour drive from Tree Hill, and the Ravens are to be at the school at 4:00 sharp to board the bus and be on their way. Most of his teammates showed up to school that day, Thursday, with their bags packed, ready to go. But Lucas procrastinated on packing a bit too much and now had twenty minutes to finish packing and get back to school.

"No kidding, but this is what you get for putting it off every time I reminded you that you needed to pack," Brooke pointed out as she re-folded and packed everything he had thrown at his bag.

"I know, thanks for helping, Brooke. Whitey will freak out if I'm late."

"No problem. My bags are already packed and in the car. It's too bad Whitey isn't letting the cheerleaders ride on the bus with you guys."

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "He said we need to be focused, and apparently your squad is distracting."

"That is not our fault. You guys are all a bunch of horn balls, and my girls are hot," Brooke said.

"True," Luke said with a shrug.

"Alright, you're good to go," Brooke said as she zipped up his bag, "Now get out of here, I'll see you in Charlotte."

"Can't wait," he said as he grabbed his bag and kissed her goodbye. "See you there, Brooke." Luke ran out of the house and hurried off to the school, excited for the tournament.


End file.
